Conditional planning approval has been granted today for a new Integrated Care Centre in Hull which will house a new fire station for East Hull.
Hull City Council’s Planning Committee has given the green light for the £9m Integrated Care Centre (ICC), which will provide support to patients who have long-term health conditions and illnesses associated with older age. Providing an alternative to hospital admission, patients will be referred directly by their GP for assessment and treatment on a day case basis, before being supported to return back home with an ongoing plan of care.
Erica Daley, Director of Integrated Commissioning said:
“Following on from a productive year of consultation with local residents, we’re incredibly pleased that the Integrated Care Centre has been approved and we can start putting our plans into action. The centre will bring specialist diagnosis services into the community, supporting people to be healthy and live independently for as long as possible.”
The health and social care facility, to be built on the site of the former David Lister School, will combine a range of health services to allow patients to receive assessments and treatment, plus the support required to help them return home as soon as possible.
In a first for the region, a small Humberside Fire and Rescue Service (HFRS) station will be on-site, with specially trained fire personnel supporting the rehabilitation and recovery of patients following a period in hospital; building on the success of HFRS and health-led Hull FIRST Falls Response Team.
Deputy Chief Fire Officer Chris Blacksell was delighted by the approval:
“We are extremely pleased about our close links to our Health colleagues, and how effective that is in keeping people safe. The on-site fire station will allow us to continue our ground-breaking work responding to and preventing falls in the city and supporting the vulnerable to stay safe in their own home.”
“To share facilities with health partners makes sense on a number of levels given the current financial climate and the fact that a new home for our firefighters in East Hull is now overdue. We look forward to further working with partner agencies to progress this exciting initiative.”
Hull Citycare is NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group’s (CCG) estates partner. The ICC is the latest project the public private partnership is working on having delivered £100 million of new and improved health and well-being facilities on behalf of the NHS across Hull.
Dan Simmons, Development Manager at Citycare, said:
“This is a very positive milestone and progression towards changing healthcare in Hull. It is a prestigious development to be working on to provide another great community facility and it’s a unique and complex design in terms of integrating public services under one roof.”
“We are now going out to the market to appoint a construction delivery partner. But, as always, we will make sure they work with the community and be sensitive and considerate throughout.”
“We will hopefully start on site by the end of the year, once the final business case has been approved.”
Alison Barker, City Manager for Adult Social Care, said:
“We’re delighted these plans have been approved and can now move forward. This is an extremely exciting project which has the potential to truly revolutionise the way healthcare is delivered.
“With planning giving the green light to go ahead, all agencies involved in this development will continue to work closely together to ensure the centre fully addresses the needs of the patients it will serve”.
Due to open in 2018, the Integrated Care Centre is part of the Hull 2020 vision to improve the city’s future health by ensuring different public services, including health services, the council and emergency services, work closely together.
Key features of the care centre will include:
• A rapid access assessment centre for GPs and other clinicians to directly refer patients for diagnostic testing (e.g. x-rays and ultrasound) or treatment primarily for long term conditions
• A purpose built rehabilitation and reablement suite that will support people to manage their own condition following illness or change in health condition
• Full suite of consultation and examination rooms
• A joint base for health and social care teams
• Increased capacity for community based therapies, including chemotherapy
Background information
• The population over the age of 65 in Hull is projected to increase by almost 9 per cent from 2013 to 2020 increasing the prevalence of long term conditions such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Heart Failure (HF), Dementia and Diabetes.
• The facility will be open seven days a week. The site offers good access, flexibility and capacity close to a development being planned by Pickering and Ferens Housing Association for 54 bungalows on the site – supporting integrated working with social care, residential care homes, social housing, voluntary groups and charities.
• Hull City Council agreed to make the land available for the new build at the former David Lister School site in East Hull. The Integrated Care Centre forms part of the wider Hull 2020 transformational programme, the Better Care Fund programme and aligns with the City Plan.
Find out more about these programmes and the Hull FIRST rapid response to falls at hullccg.nhs.uk