Assura : Funding granted for Wantage Health Centre extension

Staff and patients at our building for the Wantage Health Centre have welcomed Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group's approval for funding of a much-anticipated extension and partial refurbishment of the building.

The health centre, in Mably Way, Wantage, is shared by the Newbury Street and Church Street GP practices and accommodates an optician and pharmacy.

Oxfordshire CCG has approved funding for an extra nine consulting and treatment rooms for each practice, a larger shared waiting and reception area and new patient facilities. New units for the optician and pharmacy will also be provided, with their own entrances.

The project, expected to cost £5.5m, is subject to planning permission from Vale District Council, but work could begin in early 2022.

The area served by the health centre is seeing a significant growth in population (27 per cent increase expected from 2017 to 2027) and, specifically in Wantage, Grove and adjoining villages, an additional minimum of 4,100 homes are targeted to be built between now and 2030. This will mean an extra 10,000 people living in the area who will need primary care services.

Church Street GP practice has had an 8.6 per cent increase in registered patient numbers from April 2018 to April 2021, with a similar rise at Newbury Street.

Dr Liz Mackenzie, senior partner at Church Street, said: "This funding approval is great news for our patients and staff. Th extra space will allow us to offer more services and more care closer to home. We will be able better to join up health and social care services right in the heart of our community and we're looking forward to the future.

Dr Rhodri Davies, senior partner at Newbury Street, said: "We welcome the announcement of a positive next step for this exciting project. The extension of the Wantage Health Centre will bring many benefits to our patients and staff, and we can't wait to get going."

Jo Cogswell, Director of Transformation at Oxfordshire CCG, said: "This is a great opportunity to help expand primary care services in Wantage and the surrounding areas and make them sustainable into the future. Obviously, there is still some way to go before we can start work, but we are confident this project will bring huge benefits to the growing population of the OX12 area and to our health and social care workforce."

As part of our SixBySix strategy, we're working to move all of our buildings to an EPC rating of B as we work to make every medical centre we own more energy efficient on the road to net zero.

At Wantage, the construction works will also see us replacing lighting with LEDs, sustainable heating solution and achieve a BREEAM rating of 'very good' for the new build extensions.

Stephen Gorst, our Project Manager said: "We are delighted that funding has been approved for this extension. We are always looking for ways in which our buildings can help primary care teams improve the experience and expand services for patients, and we can't wait for the work to get started."