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This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Primary care premises receive £19m

18/12/2003

A £19 million boost for NHS Boards to invest in premises to deliver more primary care services or where patients can access both primary care and local authority services has been announced today.

A total of £15 million is being made available over the two-year period 2004-6 to provide top up funding for joint working projects agreed between NHS Boards and their partner local authorities.

There are a number of good examples of this type of joint working including the Dalmellington Resource Centre in East Ayrshire and the Strathbock Partnership Centre in Broxburn, West Lothian. Within these facilities patients are able to access not only GP, practice nurse, community care or mental health services, but also a wide range of local authority services in the same building.

A further £4 million is being made available to pump prime the development of Community Health Service Centres which will bring together treatment, diagnosis and support services in a single centre. This funding will also help rural areas to develop outreach facilities using IT and video link technology.

Announcing the funding, Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm said:

"As we modernise how primary care services are delivered in Scotland, I want to ensure that those services are delivered in modernised, up to date premises.

"Patients have already seen, and are using, new and improved premises across Scotland which benefited from the Executive's Modernisation Programme. It has meant better service delivery and more accessible services for patients.

"I want patients to continue to benefit from this programme. The development of community health service centres and the investment in remote and rural areas will ensure a wider range of services is available in local communities."

Over the two-year period NHS Boards will receive the following funding to cover both joint premises and the development of Community Health Service
Centres:

Argyll and Clyde £1,756,000
Ayrshire and Arran £1,616,000
Borders £458,000
Dumfries and Galloway £678,000
Fife £1,326,000
Forth Valley £1,100,000
Grampian £1,962,000
Greater Glasgow £4,386,000
Highland £998,000
Lanarkshire £2,112,000
Lothian £3,006,000
Tayside £1,818,000
Orkney £64,000
Shetland £70,000
Western Isles £150,000

The Primary and Community Care Modernisation Programme has been underway since 1999 and so far £51 million has been committed to over 100 projects across Scotland.

The Partnership Agreement said that the Coalition would:

"develop Community Health Service Centres that bring together treatment, diagnosis and support services within a single centre, to improve wellbeing. We will develop similar structures in rural areas by using, for example, outreach facilities and IT and video link technology."

The Executive is making £15 million available (£7 million in both years) over the two-year period 2004-06 to provide top-up funding for joint working projects agreed between NHS Boards and their partner local authority. A further £1 million is available as a pool in 2004-05 which bids are invited from Boards and their local authority partners, for exceptional immediate requirements.

A total of £4 million (£1.75 million in the next two years) is now being
made available as seed corn funding to support new and existing projects where additional investment would enable the vision for Community Health Service Centres (CHSCs) and their rural equivalents to be rolled out. A further £0.5 million (£0.25 million in the next two years) will be made available to NHS Boards who have exceptional needs in developing models that give effect to the vision of CHSCs and rural equivalents.

Page updated: Wednesday, July 21, 2004