The official launch of a new Community Health Hub took place on Wednesday 18 December, attended by senior representatives from the Healthcare sector. These included leaders from NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, Wye Valley NHS Trust, Healthwatch Herefordshire and the Herefordshire Councillor for Adult Health and Wellbeing, Carole Gandy.

Attendees heard from Dr Nigel Fraser, GP and Chairman of Taurus Healthcare, the GP Federation for Herefordshire. Dr Fraser outlined the vision behind the new Centre and the innovative way in which it had been financed (a mixture of Nat West Bank, Lombard Finance credit and the Federation’s own cash).

Dr Fraser said:

“The financing model we have used to purchase the premises is already attracting national interest due to its reduced reliance on public finance. Perhaps more importantly, by consolidating our operations under one roof, we are generating significant annual savings in premises costs.”

The Hub is located at Nelson House on Whitecross Road, close to Aldi and Sainsbury’s Supermarkets. It brings together partners from across Herefordshire’s healthcare system, enabling more collaboration and improved relationships, leading to better patient services and greater efficiency.

Teams from Wye Valley NHS Trust’s Community Response Hub, including the Urgent Community Response Service, and Healthwatch Herefordshire have been operating from the building for several weeks. The Out of Hours GP Service (which provides urgent GP support through NHS111 when surgeries are closed) also now operates from Nelson House, having moved here at the end of November.

Taurus purchased Nelson House earlier this year and the building has since undergone significant refurbishment. This includes the creation of a self-contained clinical unit with eight consulting rooms, conference and training facilities, meeting rooms and social spaces.  Its corporate team is now based at the building, together with colleagues from Herefordshire General Practice and Herefordshire’s health and care system.  

Simon Trickett, Chief Executive at NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said:

"The new centre is a great credit to the team – I know the work that must have gone on behind the scenes to get to this point.

 “We are really committed across the whole system to integrate care more for patients and so that we can make accessing care more straightforward and understandable for Herefordshire residents. The new centre, based on a prominent junction at Whitecross Road, is a tangible demonstration to people that progress is being made towards this goal.”

After an official ribbon cutting ceremony conducted by three of the Federation’s longest serving members of the Out of Hours GP Service team, visitors were invited to tour the new facilities.

Jill Rowberry, Operational Shift Manager for Taurus (and one of those who performed the ribbon cutting ceremony), said:

"It’s so nice to have our own self-contained clinical space. The fact that we’re co-located with the administrative offices also really helps with joining up the care we provide.”

Additional teams and services are expected to move into the premises in the new year, including NHS Health Checks, diabetic eye screening and seasonal vaccination clinics.