Work gets underway on new £10.5m NHS health hub in Bakewell
The scheme has been developed in partnership between Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust and East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust to rejuvenate health facilities for people living in Bakewell and the Derbyshire Dales.
Kier has been appointed to construct the new health hub, on Baslow Road, which is due to be handed over to the NHS in late 2023 and will open for healthcare in early 2024. It will provide a modern new home for community health services currently provided in the adjacent outdated 19th century Newholme Hospital, which is earmarked for closure, and the neighbouring former ambulance station which is being demolished to make way for the new health hub.
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Hide AdPrem Singh, chairman of Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust, welcomed guests to the turf cutting ceremony on Wednesday August 24. He said: “This investment in healthcare will help to future-proof local health service provision for the next generations of residents in the Bakewell area.
“We are delighted to be working in close partnership with our ambulance service colleagues to create integrated facilities which support the principle of joined-up care. It has taken a lot of planning, over several years, to get to this stage.”
Andrew Magee, head of operations for Derbyshire at East Midlands Ambulance Service NHS Trust, said: "This is another really exciting step in the development of the new health hub for Bakewell and we can’t wait to see it progress over the coming months.
"Not only will this new building and its modern facilities be such an improvement on our old ambulance station, but by physically sharing a space together it will undoubtedly build on our relationships and understanding of one another’s organisations and work we do to support our communities."
Plans for the new hub were shared in late 2020. Planning permission was granted in 2021 and contractors Kier moved on site in July 2022 to prepare for construction.