The penultimate development in a multi-million pound overhaul of healthcare facilities in Liverpool has been completed.
The newly-refurbished Princes Park Neighbourhood Health Centre has officially opened its doors after a £2.4m renovation that began in December 2010.
The facility has been transformed into a modern neighbourhood medical centre housing a wide range of community services, including extended GP opening hours.
The development is part of of NHS Liverpool’s vision for a New Health Service for Liverpool , a project first announced in 2007.
Since then, millions of pounds has been invested in new purpose-built health facilities and refurbishments of existing buildings across the city.
Princes Park Neighbourhood Health Centre is the penultimate project taking place as part of the scheme, with the opening of a new facility in the heart of Liverpool's largest regeneration zone in Kensington set to follow next year.
State-of-the-art centres have already opened in Everton, Breeze Close, Picton, Yewtree, Oriel Drive, Speke, Garston, Childwall, Townsend Lane and Mere Lane.
Gideon Ben-Tovim, chairman of NHS Liverpool, said: “This is one of the most extensive and ambitious health development programmes the city of Liverpool has ever seen and I feel very proud of the work that has been done to provide improved healthcare facilities to these different communities across our city.”
The programme has been supported by Merseyside-based development firm, Liverpool and Sefton Health Partnership (LSHP), which was originally established in 2004 as part of the Goverment's NHS LIFT programme, an initiative designed to stimulate greater local investment in primary and social care facilities.
Graham Pink, chief executive of LSHP, said: “When we first set out to undertake these plans for the New Health Service for Liverpool programme, we had a very clear vision for delivering attractive and modern health centres that would provide real value for money and would better fit the needs of patients in the 21st Century.
“I am absolutely delighted this vision is being fully realised and that patients at Princes Park and at our other development sites across the city are now able to enjoy health services that are conveniently located close to where they live, offering a lasting legacy of improved health to local communities for many years to come.”
