Countdown starts to new £13m Attwood Green Health Centre 10 January 2011

Construction of the new £13 million Attwood Green Health Centre on Bath Row, Birmingham, has begun. Once finished up to 16,000 people will benefit from new health services.

To mark the occasion partners Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust (HoBTPCT), NHS South Birmingham, BaS LIFT, Prime plc, Councillor Sue Anderson – Cabinet Member for Adults & Communities, Councillor Kath Hartley, Dr Colston, Dr Morgan, Dr Hyman and their patient representatives, and designer Scott Hutton from One Creative Environments Ltd (One) visited the construction site to view the build in progress.

The new six storey health centre in the heart of Birmingham’s growing Attwood Green community is to open early 2012. Designed by One in consultation with patients and staff, and being built by Mansell construction, the centre will provide over 4,500 sqm of space for a wider range of health services. This will replace the existing Colston Health Centre located just 200 yards away, which currently serves a patient population of 13,000.

Attwood Green Health Centre is part of the ‘Right Care, Right Here’ programme which aims to provide improved healthcare to residents by delivering ‘out of hospital services’ in high quality environments closer to where they live. Once complete, Attwood Green Health Centre will have the capacity to accommodate more clinicians and increase the patient population to around 16,000.

The two existing GP practices ‘The Hyman Practice’ and ‘Bath Row Practice Medical Practice’ will relocate to the new premises where patients will have easier access to services with extended opening hours from 8am to 8pm. Health services include an onsite pharmacy, dental, physiotherapy, podiatry, nursing, outpatient clinics, speech and language services, a stop smoking clinic and sexual health services. The building will also accommodate the new offices of BaS LIFT and a range of wider PCT teams including district nursing, school nursing and health visiting teams.

The new building’s design mirrors the tall urban skyline along Bath Row, with striking Trespa resin fibre facade panels and strong use of glazing to create a landmark on this busy city street. Despite its scale it has been designed to make it easy for visitors to navigate with colour co-ordinated floors spanning from a central glass atrium. In pursuit of BREEAM excellent the building will also incorporate a range of green features to maximise its efficiency and minimise waste.

Dr Colston said: “I was delighted to attend the turf cutting event (today) and meet the project team involved. I am very glad to see this investment in primary health facilities in the area and people of Attwood Green.”

Patient representative Pat Meads said: “I’m 76 years old and have been registered at the surgery since I was born in 1934. I have always been happy with the surgery and I think the new building will be fabulous. I took part in the design workshops, so it was exciting to see what work is being done for the new building.”

Dr Hyman and Dr Morgan from the existing Colston Health Centre, said “For patients to have access to an array of health services in a new innovative building will ensue community confidence that their needs are and will be met. The new building will help develop new areas of clinical expertise and that can only be a good thing for patients.”

Kevin McGee, Chief Executive of Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust and David Cox, Chairman of NHS South Birmingham said: “Attwood Green Health Centre is part of the wider city centre regeneration scheme and will strengthen the health facilities available for local people delivering a greater range of quality services, including GP practices, dental, physiotherapy, podiatry and many more services, under one roof.”

Cllr Sue Anderson, Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities said during her speech: “As Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities I am delighted to see the vision for ‘Right Care, Right Here’ become a reality. It will support people to live independent and healthy lives with easy access to local health and care services. Attwood Green Health Centre will be a valuable asset for all members of this thriving community.”

John Taylor, Chairman of BaS LIFT, said: “It’s a striking building which will do justice to the stature of the previous health centre without relocating services more than a few hundred yards away. “