£9 million NHS project shows healthy commitment to Charedim

SALFORD’S CHAREDI population is to be served by a £9 million NHS medical centre due to open by the end of 2013.

Planning permission was granted last Thursday for the two-storey centre, to be built on the site of a demolished Victorian row of shops near Broughton Park’s Northumberland Road Jewish community. It will have 21 consultation rooms plus a dental practice, pharmacy, opticians and convenience store.

There will be 49 full-time and 61 part-time employees and the 11 GPs will cater for up to 19,200 patients. The building will close on Shabbat.

Initial plans allow for the transfer of eight GPs from three surgeries catering for the strictly Orthodox community. The centre will also serve a significant influx of economic migrants and asylum seekers including Poles, Czechs and Congolese. The scheme has been championed by community activist Rabbi Yisroel Goldberg, who became involved “because current health provision in our community was at capacity. With the expansion of the Jewish population, there was a significant problem.”

An NHS Salford representative said the facility would “offer a comprehensive range of services under one roof, making the delivery of healthcare services in the area more efficient. It will be a unique health facility providing services that are deemed culturally and religiously sensitive.”