People living in Reydon, Southwold and the surrounding areas have been invited to a preview tour of the new £5m health centre which will offer a range of high quality services closer to them. 

HealthEast, the clinical commissioning group for Great Yarmouth and Waveney, and NHS Property Services, owner of the new premises, together with a range of partner organisations, will host the event at the Sole Bay Health Centre, in Teal Close on Saturday 5 July 2014. It has been organised to give people a unique opportunity to look round the facility before it opens to patients later in the year.

Once final work is complete, the modern, purpose built and designed centre will bring together a wide range of health and social care services under one roof, including:

• community services such as physiotherapy, podiatry and occupational therapy, which are currently provided from Southwold Community Hospital by East Coast Community Healthcare (ECCH), and are due to relocate to Sole Bay Health Centre in August

• Southwold GP Surgery, which will relocate in September from its current premises as it is no longer large enough to meet the needs of patients or GP’s teaching commitments

• a variety of outreach clinics provided by James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

• shared accommodation for community staff including occupational therapists, physiotherapists, district nurses, health visitors, midwives, community mental health and social workers to use as a base

• a community pharmacy, replacing the current temporary arrangements in Reydon

Andy Evans, chief executive of HealthEast, said: “We are delighted that work on this innovative new centre is nearing completion, and would like to offer people the chance to come along to our preview day to find out more.

“Although there will still be a few finishing touches to add, the event will give people a good insight into how their new centre will work, bringing together a wide range of services which are easy to access and delivered from modern, attractive premises.

“The new centre ties in with our overall vision to deliver out of hospital care locally wherever possible, along with seamless services which are closer to people’s homes. By bringing together a wide range of services, it will enable health and social care professionals to work more closely together, in turn helping deliver even better services for our patients.”

Sean Perry, NHS Property Services project lead, who has managed the project to build the new centre, said: “There is huge local support for this fantastic facility which results from years of planning and commitment from all involved. The way healthcare is provided is evolving rapidly, and the premises need to be innovative and adaptable too.

“We look forward to seeing the facility used for integrated health and allied public and social services for many years to come and NHS Property Services will look after it for them. I am sure the local community will be impressed with what they see at the preview afternoon.”

Adele Madin, director of adult services for ECCH, said: “We are thrilled about this new and exciting opportunity to take our health and care services forward to the next level of integration – working together for the benefit of the local community. It’s a state of the art facility offering a wide range of services. Relationships across the health and social care system have developed throughout the planning process. This has had the added benefit of improving understanding between partner organisations, leading to better innovation.”

Katie Norton, director of commissioning for NHS England East Anglia, said: “We believe that the investment we are making in Sole Bay Health Centre to support the delivery of services for the local population reflects our shared commitment to improve health and make access to the right services easier for patients.”

Rigby Whittaker, practice manager at Southwold Surgery said: “The surgery has a reputation for providing high quality care for its patients, but it has outgrown its existing premises. This purpose built facility at the heart of our community gives us the opportunity to further integrate with other health and social care providers and enhance the services we are able to offer in surroundings that reflect the investment in the very best for our patients.”

The project is being built by construction and infrastructure company Morgan Sindall.

Gavin Napper, area director for Morgan Sindall, said: “We are delighted to be nearing completion on the work to design and construct this centre, which will bring such great benefits to the local community.

“The new centre will provide residents of Southwold and Reydon with a flexible, sustainable state-of-the-art medical facility and we’re very pleased to have brought our expertise in health care construction to bear on this development.”

Everyone is welcome to come to the preview event, which takes place on Saturday 5 July between 2pm and 4pm.