A new £5.5million health centre providing modern, purpose-built medical facilities for thousands of people in Tower Hamlets, has opened in Bethnal Green.
Suttons Wharf Health Centre, previously known as Globe Town Surgery, marked its official opening yesterday (Monday 21 February) by hosting a visit from Mayor John Biggs and representatives from NHS North East London Clinical Commissioning Group (NEL CCG).
Guests were given a tour of the centre which has 12 consulting rooms, three treatment rooms, two GP training rooms, a multi-purpose group room, interview and counselling rooms and staff accommodation. It will also offer latest digital technologies that facilitate patient self-monitoring – allowing people to take greater control of their own care, while maintaining convenient access to a wider range of health services in the community.
The £5.5million investment from partners (£2.4million from NHS Property Services and a £3.1m Section 106 capital grant from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets) enabled the practice to relocate from its old site in Roman Road to a more spacious fit-for-purpose centre which will allow it to expand its patient list from 13,000 to 18,000 by 2024.
The new practice has the resources and capacity to offer a wider range of primary care network services and will provide access to specialist clinics to help with managing long-term conditions and outpatient services, more traditionally accessed at hospital.
The extra capacity and facilities will also allow the practice to provide care and additional support to students at the nearby Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) – a service which was previously carried out off-site on the college campus.
As well as providing extra space for GPs and their teams, the multi-purpose group room will allow the centre to become a community hub by offering space for health promotion activities which will be accessible to local organisations during evenings and weekends.
William Cunningham-Davis, Director of Primary Care and Transformation for NEL CCG, said: “Suttons Wharf Health Centre is one of many NHS sites in Tower Hamlets where we, in partnership with the local council, are investing in brand new buildings.
“Our vision is to transform the healthcare system in Tower Hamlets by providing modern, fit-for-purpose health facilities that improve services and outcomes for local people.”
Mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, said: “The new Sutton Wharf health centre is one example where as a council we ensure money from developers is used to provide services people need.
“Although overall life expectancy has improved in recent years, healthy life expectancy in the borough – the number of years a person may be expected to live in good health – remains significantly below the national level.
“Access to high quality services is a key way to ensure residents are fit and healthy and we will continue to work in partnership with our local health partners to deliver healthy outcomes.”
Angela Beart, Senior Construction Manager at NHS Property Services, said: “We are delighted to have worked with North East London CCG on another successful project in Tower Hamlets. Suttons Wharf will provide a new, modern and fit for purpose place for local people to receive care and deliver additional healthcare capacity in a rapidly growing borough.”
