On Wednesday 19 February 2025, Sarah Smith MP paid a visit to Accrington Acorn Health Centre to learn more about the facilities and the vital healthcare services being delivered to the local community after the recent move of services from Accrington Victoria Hospital to the building through strong partnership working.
The health centre hosts a range of services including a sexual health service, midwife clinics, general outpatients, x-ray and a new minor injuries unit which was delivered within a week by teams from CHP, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust and Eric Wright Partnerships. The move, costing approximately £2.5m, was part of CHP’s Productivity Acceleration in the Community Estate (PACE) which helps partners focus on the bigger opportunities to repurpose and adapt space to drive up utilisation and optimisation across the LIFT portfolio for improved patient care.
The changes took place over the course of a week and included the installation of new treatment booths, an area for triage and a temporary waiting room as well as space for PWE group GP practice.
During her visit, Sarah Smith MP met with CHP CEO, Wendy Farrington-Chadd, Geoff Lavery, Strategic Estates Lead, Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB, Natalie Hudson, Senior Consultant (Clinical Strategy & Healthcare Planning), Eric Wright Partnerships and Kayley Riley, Strategic Estates Lead, Lancashire and South Cumbria ICB and Neil Berry, Associate Director of Partnership, East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust. The visiting party discussed how partnership working and positive collaboration helped to deliver the project at speed before Christmas.
The work at Accrington Acorn is a fantastic example of how CHP buildings are flexible and adaptable and highlights how they can be hubs in the heart of neighbourhoods that need them.
CHP CEO, Wendy Farrington-Chadd, then visited Barbara Castle Way Health Centre, Blackburn alongside colleagues from Eric Wright Group, Blackburn with Darwen Council and Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
The building, which is in the centre of the town, has underutilised space on the ground floor where pharmacy space has been left empty having been repurposed into a COVID clinic and there are discussions ongoing regarding the possibility of moving mental health services into a modernised first floor space.
“It was fantastic to show Sarah Smith MP around Accrington Acorn Health Centre. As a local to the area, her passion for excellent service delivery was notable and we are excited to work with her to continue the development of services throughout East Lancashire. Accrington Acorn shows what can be achieved through positive collaborative working and creative thinking alongside our LIFTCo and ICB partners. Accrington Acorn and Barbara Castle Way are examples of how CHP can help deliver changes to buildings and services at speed via our PACE programme. It was heartening to see, and hear, first hand about plans for improved utilisation throughout the patch, not just these two buildings, and how the hard work of our operational team at CHP has delivered space that will make a huge difference to the local community which I hope will continue long into the future.
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