A MULTI-MILLION pound "super surgery" is planned for Northampton as part of a massive injection of Government cash into new NHS services in the county.
The Sixfields area will receive £10 million for a new one-stop primary and social care centre, with further projects from Daventry and South Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) to follow.
Northampton's new development will offer a range of hea
lth and social care services including primary care practitioners and outpatients services, diagnostics, dentistry, community and other outreach services.
Health Secretary John Reid also announced that Corby would receive an estimated £27 million to provide a new 60-bed community hospital at the Willowbrook Health Complex, providing a new diagnostic centre, outpatient department, physiotherapy wards and GP surgery, two GP practices and a pharmacy.
The funds come from the South Midlands Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT), a partnership between the Department of Health, local government and the private sector.
Northamptonshire Heartlands PCT successfully bid for the LIFT support, in partnership with Northampton PCT, Daventry and South Northamptonshire PCT, and Melton, Rutland and Harborough PCT, with the support of Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Rutland Strategic Health Authority.
In Northampton, the Integrated Care Centre at Sixfields will provide a range of health services, including diagnostics and minor surgery, general medical services, and dentistry.
It will also have housing, mental health and social care services for adults and children and will serve people living in the Extracare retirement village, being built near the St Crispin Hospital site.
Mary Burrows, chief executive of Northampton PCT said: "Our first project will be to build an integrated health and social care centre in the Sixfields district.
"We see this as a community facility for the community, making the best use of it to build cohesive and strong communities with a local identity.
"This centre, which is the first of three by 2010, will offer a range of services from diagnostics, medical care, dentistry and a range of community sessions such as mother and babies, young people groups, etc. We aim to work with local groups and partner organisations over the next few years to bring these community facilities to reality."
