Exciting new development agreed

1 August 2003

Plans that will mean a new health and social care facility in the Sudbury area were given the go-ahead today (Thursday 31 July).

At the heart of the plans lies a £15 million facility that will bring together a wide range of services and facilities on to a new site.

Being described as a health and social care campus, the new development will provide:

• enhanced outpatient services

• diagnostic services

• minor injuries unit

• 40 beds can be used flexibly by hospital doctors and local GPs to provide rehabilitation, respite and palliative care

• day treatment centre with intensive therapy services

• a base for health information and promotion services

• community services, including those for children

There will also be the opportunity for a GP surgery, a nursing home and offices for integrated community health and social care staff

Approval for the development was given by the Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority at its board meeting. It means that the West Suffolk Hospitals NHS Trust, which is leading the project, can go-ahead to draw up the detailed plans and find a commercial partner.

The new facilities will replace the Walnuttree and St Leonard¹s Hospitals, and are expected to be open by early 2006. They will be built on land that was purchased last summer between Churchfield Road and Waldingfield Road.

The first tangible change in preparation for the new development will happen later this year when services at the St Leonard¹s Hospital are relocated to Walnuttree Hospital.

"This is excellent news for the people of Sudbury and surrounding villages," said John Parkes, the trust¹s chief executive. "We can look forward with confidence to having brand new health and social care facilities in the near future to replace the admirable services being delivered in out of date buildings."

"We will be creating much more than a building with beds in it. We will be establishing facilities with new ways of working for health and social care services in Sudbury and spending an additional £1.2 million a year on them," said Tony Ranzetta, chief executive of the Suffolk West Primary Care Trust. "It will result in more care being provided in Sudbury so that fewer people have to travel out of the town to receive services.

"Our plans are for a flexible and forward looking approach that will remain at the leading edge of health and social care provision for many years to come."

The proposal to the health authority follows an extensive public consultation exercise in which more than 200 local people took part in April and June this year. Building work will start in early 2005.

West Suffolk Hospitals chairman Veronica Worrall and Joanna Spicer, chariman of PCT, commented: "the people of Sudbury have been waiting a long time for this news and we are pleased that we can now make progress and deliver a model of care that will meet local needs."

Notes

The consultation was carried out by the Health and Social Care Advisory Service.

Timetable for the new campus:

July 2003 Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire Strategic Health Authority approve the Outline Business Case

Late 2003 Relocation of services from St Leonard's Hospital to Walnuttree Hospital

Search starts for commercial partner. Advertisement placed in the Official Journal of the European Community requesting expressions of interest followed by short listing of potential private partners

January 2004 Short listed companies invited to submit proposals for delivering the new facilities

May 2004 Proposals submitted

July 2004 Preferred partner selected

January 2005 Scheme finalised

March 2005 Construction starts

Early 2006 Buildings completed and site occupied