PATIENTS across Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull are benefiting from investment to improve GP premises and make better use of existing buildings, helping to improve access to primary care services across local communities.
Through the Primary Care Utilisation and Modernisation Fund, 63 GP practices and four hospital trusts across the area have received investment to upgrade and reconfigure their buildings.
In total, the programme has delivered 95 additional consulting and clinical rooms and is expected to support around 380,000 additional GP appointments each year.
Schemes have been delivered across all local areas, including communities with higher levels of deprivation, helping to reduce health inequalities and improve access to care where it is needed most.
By focusing on improving and reusing existing NHS buildings, the programme is also helping the NHS reduce its carbon footprint and move towards its net zero goals, by avoiding the need for new-build developments.
The programme also supports the aims of the 10 Year Health Plan for England, including improving access to care closer to home, strengthening community-based services, and making better use of NHS resources so more care can be delivered outside of hospital where appropriate.
A good example of this can be seen at Yardley Wood Health Centre in south Birmingham, where £98,000 of investment has allowed unused space to be turned into three new clinical rooms.
The practice looks after around 11,000 patients and has 12 GPs. The extra rooms have increased appointment capacity from around 840 appointments per week to around 1,000, helping more patients be seen locally.
The new rooms were officially opened during a visit by Al Carns MP, who met staff and patient representatives and saw the improvements first-hand.
Sarb Basi, deputy chief officer, Primary Care, Birmingham, Black Country and Solihull cluster ICBs said: “This programme shows how investing in existing GP buildings can make a real difference for patients.
“Across Birmingham, the Black Country and Solihull, new clinical rooms are helping practices increase appointment capacity and improve access to care.
“It also supports the goals of the 10 Year Health Plan for England by offering more care in the local community rather than hospitals.”
Sophia Raja, Managing Partner at Yardley Wood Health Centre, said: “These new clinical rooms represent an important improvement for our patients, staff and wider community.
“By making better use of space within the health centre, we have created additional capacity that will help us improve access to care, support our multidisciplinary teams and enhance the experience of patients using our services. Increasing our capacity each week will make a meaningful difference for the people we serve.”
