Could Melksham be home to a new urgent care centre?

MELKSHAM has a ‘wonderful opportunity’ to be the home to a new healthcare facility, providing new clinical services and urgent treatment in the West Wiltshire area, according to local health campaigner, Nick Westbrook.

He says that Melksham should push for an urgent care centre to be built in the area to help support Bath’s RUH Hospital, which is under ‘huge pressure’ to cope with increasing demand from a growing patient population.

As well as supporting the increasing Melksham population, he says the new facility would be best placed to serve the community areas of Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham, Corsham, and Trowbridge, due to its central location. He says there are a number of sites available for development – including land next to the air ambulance base in Semington.

Speaking to Melksham News, Nick explained, “An urgent care centre is a facility that is self-sufficient – it could offer diagnostics, x-ray, testing, minor surgery, and a whole range of other services and clinics including a consultants’ outreach service.”

This isn’t the first time Melksham has been proposed as a potential site for new healthcare facilities. In July 2017, the Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) announced plans for a multi-million pound investment in health services in West Wiltshire, which included plans to redevelop primary health care services in the Melksham, Trowbridge and Chippenham area. The plans included a new 24-hour hospital, with Melksham as one of the possible locations.

But the CCG has since moved on from these plans, and is instead carrying out a countywide ‘estates assessment’ based on the new Primary Care Networks, which will help them identify priority areas in the county to address.

Because of the CCG’s plans and recent and upcoming  structural changes to how NHS services in the local area are managed and how new services are commissioned, Nick is urging local authorities, including Melksham Town Council, to start building a case now to present Melksham as the ideal location for new facilities if the opportunity arises.

“The population in Melksham already exceeds expectations laid out in Wiltshire Council’s core strategy for 2026,” said Nick. “Bradford on Avon (which is part of a new Primary Care Network with Melksham, joining GP surgeries in both towns to work more closely together) is close to exceeding its projected population.

“In theory, each new Primary Care Network in Wiltshire could resolve to create an urgent care centre. Is it not better to spend now and make sure facilities are in place to deal with the projected population situation? 

“It’s no good waiting until 2026 – now is the time to do it. A wonderful window of opportunity exists now to be engaging all the relevant interested parties, as well as patients, carers, the voluntary sector, clinicians and planners.”

RUH at capacity

At a meeting earlier this month in Holt with the public governors from the Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, it was disclosed that their 52-acre site is under re-development pressure.

Nick explained, “They have a number of projects in-hand, including the transfer of the MIN (Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases) onto their site and a new cancer unit. But the bottom line is that they are at capacity. Unless they start building tower blocks on top of what they already have, then there is really nowhere else for them to go. They are under huge pressure.”

In response to questions from Melksham News about the re-development pressure on the RUH and the possibility of a urgent care centre in West Wiltshire, trust chief executive from the RUH, James Scott said, “We are coming to the end of our major 10-year development programme that we designed to make the RUH ‘Fit for the Future’.  Projects completed include: The Dyson Neonatal Care Unit; A new Information, Management and Technology building; A 300-space public car park; A new Pathology Laboratory; The new Forbes Fraser Pharmacy; A new Spiritual Care Centre; A new Oral &Maxillofacial Surgery and Orthodontic  Department; A temporary decant ward; The RNHRD and Brownsword Therapies Centre (opening this autumn).

“We are fortunate to be able to invest in our site, which is made possible by continued careful financial management and generous donations from benefactors and fundraising.  Our next project is our biggest ever – the Dyson Cancer Centre. 

“We are now planning for the next five years to build on the progress we have made and to further improve services and facilities for our patients. We are working closely with our partners at the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Sustainability and Transformation Partnership (BSW STP) who plan and commission services, including those at the RUH, and allocate resources to the healthcare needs of the public, to bring all our resources together to provide the best quality care and health outcomes for our local population.”

Tracey Cox, chief executive officer for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Clinical Commissioning Groups and senior responsible officer for BSW STP added, “NHS, local authority and health and care organisations including voluntary sector groups across BaNES, Swindon and Wiltshire are working together to improve people’s health and wellbeing, drive up quality and deliver financial stability. 

“This joint approach is great news for people living in our local area who will be able to see practical day-to-day benefits as the local health and care system works to provide more seamless services.”