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Preston’s long-awaited city centre health club is likely to be within a redevelopment of the St John’s Shopping Centre.
Blog Preston understands three city sites are in the running with NHS health chiefs but the St John’s site is emerging as the strong favourite.
An NHS facility in the city centre dates back to at least 2018 and appears to be the direction the government is pushing in since the publication of the government’s 10-year plan for health services which includes a focus on a ‘Neighbourhood Health Service’ with ‘neighbourhood health centres’ a key part of the proposals.
Read more: The Tithebarn partial demolition approved after decade of decay
Pressure for a city centre health hub has been constant from political and civic leaders in the city for years, particularly in light of the preference for a now-delayed new Royal Preston Hospital being located outside of the Preston city boundaries and being built out at the motorway junctions at Cuerden.
Earlier this week we reported on how developers Praxis are putting forward a multi-million pound redevelopment of the current St John’s site between the Bus Station and the Markets.
Within it there is space for a 26,000 square foot city centre NHS neighbourhood health centre.
Lambert Smith Hampton are bringing forward the St John’s plans on behalf of Praxis and director for planning, regeneration and infrastructure Paul Shuker said: “The delivery of a new NHS neighbourhood health centre will be at the forefront of the Government’s recently announced 10-Year Health Plan to bring health facilities to the heart of Preston’s community.”
The St John’s site is no stranger to NHS facilities as the former shop unit on the Tithebarn Street side was used as a Covid mass vaccination centre for 18 months, closing in December 2022.
A full planning application for the St John’s scheme is due to be lodged in mid-August.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust refused to confirm the St John’s site was the most likely site for a new health hub but did confirm they continued to hold the ambition for one.
A spokesperson for the Trust told Blog Preston: “We continue to have positive discussions with partners about our aspirations for a health hub in Preston city centre and are exploring a number of potential sites.”
In February this year, chief executive Silas Nicholls, gave an update about the need for a city centre health hub. He said: “This would allow us to co-locate urgent care services, outpatients, diagnostics [and] some of our…clinic room-based services…into better facilities, more modern facilities – and actually have them in the centre of Preston, where [people can have] better access via public transport,”
The government has made clear they want to see proposals for community-focused health facilities.
Announcing the 10-year health plan, health and social care secretary Wes Streeting said: “We are issuing an open invitation to local authorities and health services to become pioneer neighbourhood health services and lead the charge of healthcare reform.
“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re beginning the Neighbourhood Health Service in areas of greatest need first, to tackle the unfair health inequalities that blight our country.”
Preston – particularly in areas close to the city centre – has some of the most deprived neighbourhoods with the greatest health inequalities in the country particularly around life expectancy.
Where else could a health hub go?
Blog Preston understands the two other sites being considered by health chiefs would be council-owned buildings in and around the St John’s site – two large office-blocks facing into Ringway are currently empty along with Lancastria House which is temporarily being used as a HQ for the building work at Amounderness House. The area around St John’s is favoured due to its strong public transport connections with the Bus Station nearby.
Also in the running would be somewhere in and around the city’s university campus – as the University of Lancashire acts as a major training base for health courses, many of the students then go on to work for the Lancashire NHS trusts. In an interview with Blog Preston the vice-chancellor Prof Graham Baldwin indicated they were looking at what they do with a number of buildings on the periphery of the city campus which were no longer fit for purpose.
The city centre health hub was at one stage pencilled in for land which is now going to be the new Youth Zone.
Preston City Council, in response to the St John’s plans, repeated their continued support for a city centre health hub.
Cabinet Member for Health & Wellbeing Councillor Zafar Coupland said: “It has been a long-held ambition to open a dedicated health hub in the city centre that helps to tackle health inequalities that would alleviate the health pressures faced in our most deprived areas. Preston’s Community Health & Wellbeing Partnership, a collaboration from across sectors, is working together to find a solution for health care provision in a location that is easily accessible by car and public transport.
“A community health hub, an integrated ‘one stop shop’ of customer focused health and wellbeing services that brings health provision closer to our communities, is something that the Preston Regeneration Board has also prioritised as a key project to deliver for the city over the next few years, and future regeneration plans need to ensure that we are ready and able to maximise the opportunities that are presented with the future transformation of Royal Preston Hospital and to adapt to, and deliver an excellent, modern health service to a growing resident population.”
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