Prime Minister visits new medical centre ahead of Autumn opening

Published: 20-Aug-2020

Hereford clinic heralded as an example of affordable modern primary care facilities

With GP ‘super centres’ predicted to become the future of primary care, Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, this week paid a visit to the new Station Medical Centre in Hereford.

The Prime Minister was taken around the site by representatives from developer, Prime, and the local GP partnership, Hereford Medical Group.

The surgery, due to open this autumn, is being constructed by Speller Metcalfe and was designed by One Creative Environments.

And, during his visit, Johnson learnt how specialist private investors and pension funds can deliver affordable health infrastructure in order to meet the evolving needs of patients across the country.

And, when Prime chairman, Richard Laing, suggested it would be possible to deliver 1,000 centres like Hereford across the UK at a rental cost which would be less than 0.5% of the NHS budget, Johnson laid down the gauntlet, saying ‘why don’t we just do that?’.

Built to a BREEAM ‘Excellent’ sustainability rating; the centre will bring a number of practices together under one roof, with the infrastructure also allowing for the increasing number of virtual consultations.

Johnson said: “It was fantastic to see this new GP surgery being built right here in Hereford.

“When it opens its doors this autumn, patients around the city and surrounding communities will benefit from excellent care and access to a number of services under one roof.”

Laing added: “This fabulous new investment in the city’s healthcare infrastructure is the physical manifestation of the integration of services made possible by Hereford Medical Group.”

“The Prime team worked closely with the group as they re-imagined health delivery across Hereford, alongside NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group.

“The building will support the very best in joined-up health and care services.”

The multimillion-pound investment, provided by Prime and Assura, is a priority scheme for the Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (STP) and represents the biggest-ever single investment in primary care for the county.

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