Community Health Partnerships (CHP) funded internal variation works to expand the number of clinical rooms for the Chadwick Practice at One Life Hartlepool Medical Centre (OLH).
The project is a £109k capital investment from CHP at the three-story 6,400m2 health care building. The project removed a storage room and a WC, joining existing corridors to access three underutilised consultation rooms on the ground floor in the adjacent Minor Injuries Unit (MIU). Access to the additional space enables the GP Practice in managing their patient list size, as their previous premises was undersized. The team had a treatment room and 10 consulting rooms previously, so their floorspace has expanded by nearly a third.
This variation follows CHP’s partnership working with North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) and Durham and Tees Community Ventures (LIFTCo) to identify additional clinical space for the GP team at the Chadwick Practice. The building work was project managed by FES FM Ltd who contracted the works to Milestone Infrastructure.
The work began in early June and took nine weeks. Practical completion was on 4 August 2022 with the new area now in use by the Chadwick GP team.
Alterations were made to electricity, lighting and IT services to feed into the Chadwick GP surgery systems, as well as access control between the two sections of the building. The new clinical rooms and corridor were refurbished with fittings replaced in areas affected by the works.
Dan Cook, Developments Programme Manager – North at CHP, commented: “We are pleased to have supported NHS North East and North Cumbria ICB to undertake remodelling works at One Life Hartlepool. The works will provide the Chadwick Practice with access to three additional consulting rooms, reduce waiting times and improve patients’ health and wellbeing.”
Graeme Earl Digital and Estates Lead – Tees Valley at North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board commented: “Chadwick Practice had been struggling for space to manage their current patient list size and were landlocked within the main One Life building. Knocking through into the old Minor Injuries Unit to access the three extra clinical rooms will help the Practice immensely in increasing their access for patients and will also help reduce the underutilised space within the old Minor Injuries Unit.”
Emma Bolton, General Manager, Durham and Tees Community Ventures, commented: “We are delighted to be working with North East and North Cumbria ICB, CHP and the Practice to bring this important project forward which will see improvements and better use of space within this valuable community building.”
About One Life Hartlepool
Current services at One Life Hartlepool include podiatry, respiratory services, musculoskeletal teams, and audiology clinics as well as a community speech and language service. In addition to the Chadwick GP team, there are two other GP practices based at OLH. There is also a dental service serving the local community. As with most CHP buildings, bookable rooms are available for sessional services and there are also two large meeting rooms.
Later in 2022, more work will be undertaken at One Life Hartlepool to provide additional theatre space. The project will reconfigure the theatres on level 1, above the former minor injuries unit, moving some walls, moving cabinets and provide an enhanced space for day case operation recovery. These upgrades will give better utilisation of the facility and the project will cost approximately £260k.
About Durham and Tees Community Ventures
Durham and Tees Community Ventures is a joint venture partnership between the NHS and the private sector, with ownership of six. community healthcare facilities across the Tees Valley and County Durham. The company provides long term strategic estates support to the local health community. www.communityventuresltd.co.uk
Sustainable facilities in CHP buildings
Our buildings are specifically designed to be flexible sustainable facilities to accommodate future changes, meet the needs of building users and maximise value for money. Please contact our Developments Director, more details on Developing Infrastructure page.
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19 August 2022
