Health care in Hinckley and Bosworth set for £8m investment

The funding is one of a number of schemes recently announced by Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.

The investment in Hinckley supports plans for the transition to a much more patient–centred approach to care which focuses on providing modern, fit for purpose facilities to support more services in the local community, and closer to home. 

Interim Accountable Officer for West Leicestershire CCG, Caroline Trevithick said:

This is fantastic news for people in Hinckley and Bosworth and is the result of a lot of hard work, including the involvement of local people who have helped shape our plans for the area. 

Some of the local buildings and facilities are not fit for purpose to meet the health care needs of people now and in the future. The investment means we can upgrade and improve facilities to ensure we can provide the highest standards of care quite rightly expected by people.

The confirmation of capital funding means that, subject to NHSE approval, we will be able to consult with local people on our plans.  We will be looking to do this as early as possible in new year.

The plans focus on using this investment to make better use of all available existing space in Hinckley Health Centre (Hill Street) and at Hinckley and Bosworth Community Hospital by: 

• Refurbishing Hinckley Health Centre, to accommodate X-Ray/Ultrasound, physiotherapy and increase the number of consulting rooms;
• Creating a combined day case surgery and endoscopy unit with day-case beds, which will provide an increased range of day case procedures and cancer screening services for local patients
• Relocating the out-of-hours primary care service from Hinckley and Bosworth Community Hospital (Sunnyside) into the new developed Urgent Care Hub in Hinckley Health Centre providing out-of-hours urgent care for local patients. 

The investment in Hinckley and Bosworth is part of the broader Better Care Together strategic plan, for health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.  A key part of this plan is to bring services closer to people by providing integrated health and care support within communities, like Hinckley and Bosworth, and reducing the need to travel to hospital or for inpatient care.

Council Leader for Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council, Councillor Mike Hall said:

This is really excellent news for residents of Hinckley and Bosworth and I would like to congratulate the CCG and those who have worked both inside and outside Government to secure this funding.

Local health professionals have been committed to these improvements for several years, and they have done an excellent job in working to address public concern over the proposed changes.

The CCG has always had my full support and I hope that those who were against these proposals will now get behind them, support the recommendations, and trust the professionals to deliver improved health care for local people.