Government’s £16 million funds new health hub ‘fit for the future’

A NEW health centre will be built in Wiltshire, thanks to a Government grant of almost £16 million.

Funding has been secured for the integrated care centre opposite County Hall in Trowbridge by Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group. It will lead to the closure of Trowbridge Community Hospital, with services moving to the new health hub in Bythesea Road.

But work on the centre will not start until plans for a Wiltshire Council-led development, that it will sit within, are approved.

A spokesman for the CCG said: “The council has a plan to develop the East Wing site opposite the County Hall – the centre plan is part of that development. The centre is still dependent on the rest of the scheme going ahead.”

She said the centre would bring together GP services, a minor injuries unit and a mental health clinic and added: “The hospital [Trow- bridge Community Hospital] is old. We want to provide a really good, new space which is fit for the future and where we can base community health and social care services.”

The funding was announced by Health Secretary Matt Hancock as part of a £168m investment in 14 NHS projects in the South West. They also include almost £30m of funding for an extension at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth.