Right Care Right Here
The Right Care Right Here (RCRH) Partnership is a well established partnership betweenSandwell and West Birmingham CCG, Sandwell and Birmingham councils, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust and other health services, formed to achieve major transformational change. It is our vehicle of delivery for meeting our local health challenges.
RCRH is committed to improving people’s health and the quality of health and social care services provided to them, by:
- Delivering a new specialist acute hospital in Smethwick by 2018/19
- Expanding the level of provision of services in community settings, bringing appropriate elements of care closer to home
- Ensuring that people have the opportunity to benefit from healthier lifestyles
- Ensuring that services are extensively redesigned to meet the needs of the local population.
The Partnership is in its tenth year of running and has an established track record of making this vision a reality for our patients. Because of Right Care Right Here:
- £150million has been invested in providing new first class healthcare facilities across Sandwell and West Birmingham
- From a range of health centres to the £35m Birmingham Treatment Centre, we’re now bringing services closer to home for patients, and giving them more choice about where and when they receive care
- Services such as dentistry, podiatry, speech and language therapy, minor injuries, and respiratory clinics have, in a number of areas, become community based, working alongside GP practices to offer a huge improvement in the way services are delivered
- 110,000 people receive outpatient care in the community, 100,000 urgent care appointments are provided in the community and 40,000 bed days of immediate care are now provided in the community
- Stroke services were transformed, centralising hyper acute stroke surgery onto the Sandwell General Hospital site in March 2013. Already we have seen improvements to patient outcomes with more patients admitted to a stroke unit within four hours, increased scanning and thrombolysis
- The Community Orthopaedic Service provides additional triage and preparation to ensure that everything that can be done has been done, before an operation
- New primary care facilities have been opened, with more under construction.
With this long history of partnership working, we have strong foundations to build upon when planning for the Better Care Fund and supporting closer integration between health and social care. Right Care Right Here remains a key driver across the whole health and social care system; for delivering improved patient outcomes, care closer to home and reducing demand on hospital services as part of the Better Care Fund.
Midland Metropolitan Hospital
Our key strategic priority within the Right Care Right Here Partnership is to deliver a new state of the art Midland Metropolitan Hospital for local patients.
Locally we currently have two outdated buildings, and by building the new Smethwick hospital we will provide quality care for local patients. This development, which has been planned for almost ten years, is currently with the Department of Health for consideration.
If the development is approved, the Hospital Trust would provide care through one A&E. The Birmingham Treatment Centre and Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre would remain at Dudley Road. Services at Sandwell Hospital would change but even more outpatient and diagnostic care (e.g. blood tests and x-rays) would be delivered from the site, alongside intermediate care (supporting you to get back home after your hospital treatment). An urgent care centre would provide some emergency services in West Bromwich. Where appropriate and clinically safe, we want to provide services closer to home in GP surgeries and community facilities.
If the scheme is approved to proceed in spring 2014, then it is hoped the new hospital would open in autumn 2018.
The new hospital will offer patients:
• High quality care
• Modern premises, designed to deliver dignity, respect and choice
• One hospital, as a result leading to opportunities to utilise the latest technological advances
• Sustainable buildings fit for the 21st century.
Transport Strategy
We understand that a key requirement in any new development, is considering public transport. Right Care Right Here brought together patients and the public transport providers across the area to develop a Transport Strategy.
This strategy, is key to all partners working together to deliver an accessible hospital for local patients.
What have we done?
Below are just some of the projects we have delivered as a Right Care Right Here Partnership.
2006
Yew Tree Healthy Living Centre
Commissioned by Wednesbury and West Bromwich PCT a new development was built for Yew Tree Healthy Living Centre. The centre cost £2.5million and houses:
- 2 GP practices
- A base for community services (as above)
- Space to develop more new services.
Soho Road Primary Care Centre
Commissioned by Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, phase one of this project represented a £5.3 million investment in improving primary care facilities for the local population of Handsworth.
Construction work involved providing accommodation for GPs, a suite for minor operations and a new pharmacy building.
February 2008
Summerfield Primary Care Centre
Commissioned by Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust to serve a population of around 16,000, Summerfield Primary Care Centre was built on a site in Winson Green that had previously been regarded as “undevelopable”.
The centre is sited next to a supermarket and a small social housing scheme and helped to breathe new life into an area which was stagnating.
As well as providing modern accommodation for four GP practices, the centre has an Urgent Care Centre designed to take some pressure off the A&E department at the nearby City Hospital.
Services include:
- GP services
- Urgent Care Centre, funded under the Equitable Access in Primary Care (EAPC) scheme
- Community nursing and health visiting
- Asylum Seekers and Refugee Centre for Health
- Podiatry
- Phlebotomy
- Physiotherapy
- Pharmacy
- Minor surgery suite
February 2008
Aston Health Centre
Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust commissioned a refurbishment programme that was carried out on the centre, which was designed to accommodate the trust’s diagnostic services for the central part of the city.
April 2009
Greet Health Centre
Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust commissioned a programme of refurbishment and extension of the centre which is located between Sparkhill and Sparkbrook.
The centre became the first location in the region to accommodate X-ray, MRI scanning, minor surgery and GP services on the same site.
January 2010
Soho Road Primary Care Centre
Phase two of this development involved the demolition of an existing health centre and the construction of a new three-storey facility. This represented an investment of £3.4 million.
Services at the centre now include:
- Five GP practices
- Healthy lifestyle support
- Dental services
- Stop smoking clinic
- Physiotherapy
- Baby clinic.
2011
Glebefields Neighbourhood Health Centre
This new £6.5 million centre was developed to serve a population of around 10,000 in and around Tipton. It is an excellent example of how investment in community facilities has improved both the patient experience and also the working environment for healthcare staff.
Together with accommodation for GP practices, the new centre is home to community health services including district nurses, health visitors and school nurses. There is also a minor injuries unit to take the pressure off local A&E hospital departments.
The centre’s services include:
- GP services
- State of the art dental facilities
- Speech and language therapy
- Community nursing services
- A minor injuries unit
- Marie Stopes services including pregnancy advice
- Pharmacy.
Halycon Birthing Centre
The Halcyon Midwifery Birth Centre opened in Smethwick, West Birmingham in October 2011. It is a standalone facility.
The purpose-built midwife-led birth centre was commissioned by Sandwell Primary Care Trust (PCT), and is provided by Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals Trust (SWBH).
It was specially designed to accommodate low-risk births in an environment that makes mums feel comfortable and relaxed during labour. It features three en-suite birthing rooms, each with a fixed, under-lit birth pool, and a range of furniture and accessories designed to help families feel ‘at home’ and ensure the labour goes smoothly and safely.
There is also a reception area with seating and secure access, and a sensory garden for mums-to-be in need of fresh air.
March 2012
Sparkhill Primary Care Centre
Serving a population of around 16,000 in some of Birmingham’s most deprived inner city neighbourhoods,Sparkhill Primary Care Centre represents a £10 million investment in improving access to health care services.
The three-story centre was commissioned by Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust and lies in a prominent position at the heart of the community it serves.
Residents of Sparkhill face a journey of more than five miles to their nearest hospital A&E department. The new centre includes in its wide range of services an urgent care centre open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, 365 days a year. There are also specialist services for mothers and young children reflecting Sparkhill’s very young age profile.
The centre’s services include:
- GP surgeries
- Urgent care centre
- Dental and nursing facilities
- Out of hospital care including podiatry, physiotherapy and outpatient services
- Counselling, substance abuse and lifestyle support
- District and community nursing.
Spring 2012
Sparkbrook Community and Health Centre
The freak tornado which hit Birmingham in 2005 left a gaping hole both in the skyline and in the cultural life of the inner-city community of Sparkbrook.
Christ Church, a prominent Victorian building which had stood on a prominent crossroads in the heart of the community since the 1860s, was destroyed.
In its place now stands Sparkbrook Community and Health Centre – the result of a £12 million collaboration between Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust, Birmingham City Council and the Church of England.
The new centre was the first of its kind in the city – bringing together health and council services under one roof. It provides accommodation for three GP practices serving around 15,000 patients as well as a city council customer service centre providing advice about housing and money matters to local residents.
The centre’s services include:
- GP surgeries
- Physiotherapy
- Baby clinics
- Healthy young people’s services
- Dental services
- Healthy lifestyle support
- Birmingham City Council Customer Services Centre
- Six offices for start-up social enterprises/businesses
- Community space available for hire
- A private garden
- Church hall, space for worship and community café.
July 2012
Attwood Green Health Centre, Birmingham
Jointly commissioned by Heart of Birmingham Teaching Primary Care Trust and South Birmingham Primary Care Trust, this new, six-storey health centre represents an investment of £13 million to serve a patient population of around 16,000.
The centre occupies a prominent position along Birmingham’s Bath Row just a short distance away from Birmingham City Council’s Park Central initiative – one of the largest urban regeneration programmes in Europe. Just a few years ago, this locality had some of the worst health statistics in Birmingham with particular concerns about perinatal deaths, premature adult mortality and high instances of asthma. Now, it has been rejuvenated with new, mixed tenure housing and a new sense of identity. Attwood Green Health Centre’s hi-tech look mirrors the surrounding urban skyline.
The centre services include:
- GP facilities
- NHS out-of-hours dental services
- Physiotherapy
- Hospital outpatients clinics
- Speech and language services
- Sexual health services
- Smoking cessation and other lifestyle support
- Further accommodation for visiting health and care teams.
August 2013
Portway Lifestyle Centre
The £15million investment in Portway Lifestyle Centre was designed to improve provision for sport, leisure, social care and health facilities in Oldbury.
The innovative project relied on a committed partnership between Sandwell Primary Care Trust, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Sandwell Leisure Trust and Sandwell Local Improvement finance Trust (LIFT).
The Portway Lifestyle Centre was developed to create a new four-court sports hall, hydrotherapy pool for rehabilitation and other therapeutic purposes, full-sized all weather pitch and accommodation for a GP surgery – Tividale Family Practice. Other facilities include a climbing wall, dance studio and community cafe.
Case Studies
Glebefields Community and Health Centre
The challenge:
The Tipton area of Sandwell contains some of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England.
Local residents face significant challenges from the cradle to the grave.
At one end of the age spectrum, one in four children at school year six is classified as obese with lack of regular exercise a key contributor. There are higher than average numbers of teenage pregnancies. Smoking during pregnancy and the reluctance of mums to breastfeed are real issues.
At the other end of the age spectrum, while the number of local people dying prematurely from cancers, heart disease and strokes has fallen over the last ten years, life expectancy for both men and women is well below the national average. In some neighbourhoods, life expectancy is the lowest of any area in the West Midlands.
Sandwell’s Public Health team has identified tackling alcohol-related illness, early years and adolescent health, frail elderly care, dementia, long-term conditions and the need for integrated services as key priorities for health and care provision.
The challenge faced by health and care commissioners was to provide local residents with the support they needed to break the hold that health inequality and disadvantage had on their lives. There was a need to widen the range of health and care services that were easily accessible – especially services that gave every child the best possible start in life and that supported people in making vital lifestyle choices.
Two notorious 1960s tower blocks on the Glebefields Estate – Jellicoe House and Beatty House – were finally demolished in 2004.
Find out how health and care commissioners took advantage of the opportunity that the site offered to improve the lives of local residents.
Our Right Care Right Here response
Jellicoe House and Beatty House were local landmarks for all the wrong reasons.
Glebefields Neighbourhood Health Centre, which now occupies the site where the tower blocks stood, has become a local landmark for all the right reasons.
The striking two-storey building was the result of collaboration between Sandwell Primary Care Trust, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and LiftCO, a public/private partnership that designs, funds and builds new public buildings. The scheme represents a £6.5 million investment in improving the range and quality of local health and care services for a patient population of around 35,000.
Glebefields opened in Autumn 2011 and provided a much-needed new home for health visitors, district nurses and school nurses allowing them to become embedded in the communities they serve. Through the range of services that the centre provides under one roof, local people can access services on their doorstep that previously required inconvenient journeys to hospital sites.
The services on offer include:
- GP services
- State of the art dental facilities
- A new community podiatry service
- Speech and language therapy
- District nurses covering the local population
- School nurses covering local schools
- Health visitors
- A minor injuries unit offering an alternative to A&E
- Marie Stopes services including pregnancy advice, HIV and chlamydia screening
- Pharmacy
- Healthy lifestyle advice and support.
Attwood Green Health Centre case study
The challenge:
Park Central – on the western fringes of Birmingham city centre – is one of the biggest urban regeneration programmes in Britain.
Just a few years ago, the locality was home to Lee Bank council estate which gained regional and national notoriety for the poor state of its housing and the ferocity of protest demonstrations staged by its residents who branded it “the worst slum in Europe”.
Lee Bank was a classic example of a concrete jungle. As its housing continued to deteriorate, so the health of its residents declined. Around half of all children living locally had asthma. Local residents were five times more likely to commit suicide than the Birmingham average. Life expectancy was amongst the worst in the city.
Over the last decade, more than £260 million has been invested in the area. Decaying 20 storey tower blocks have been demolished. New housing has been created for rent and purchase. Attwood Green now boasts new shopping, a hotel and seven acres of parkland all within a ten minute walk of Birmingham City Centre. Even the name Lee Bank has been consigned to history.