HEALTH provision within the area served by Ayrshire and Arran
Community Health Care NHS Trust has been boosted with the opening of the
new Cumnock Health Centre.
Work on the #1.3m project, at 2 Tanyard, Cumnock, started in January
1993, with a projected completion date of April 1994.
In the event, the combined efforts of project manager Janice Pendrigh,
architects G.B. Horspool (Glasgow), the design team and contractors,
working under the direction of Barr Construction Limited, did much
better than that.
When the original completion date arrived, the two-storey construction
was not only finished, it had been staffed and operational for almost
four months.
Even better, the project was brought in at less than the total cost
estimate, an achievement put down to effective management resulting in a
closer partnership between the Health Service and private sector.
The ''official'' opening, by George Foulkes MP was last week. But
there are already 56 full time staff in residence: 21 GPs and their
assistants, together with 27 Community Trust personnel and eight engaged
in pharmacy.
''The project represents the evolution of a health centre strategy
which maximises the accessibility of local services, backed up by a
range of visiting specialists and diagnostic skills and treatment more
associated with a hospital environment,'' said Mr Hugh Sutherland,
Community Health Care NHS Trust Chief Executive.
Mr Sutherland revealed that the Trust has been invited to participate
in developments using advanced ''super highway'' computer information
designed to help doctors provide faster treatment.
''Imagine yourself attending a general practitioner and having an ECG,
EEG or X-ray,'' he said. ''Your GP can take this data and transmit it to
a specialist centre; so, without having to travel by ambulance for
further tests or wait weeks for an appointment to see a specialist
elsewhere, that specialist interpretation can be provided in a digitised
version.''
He added: ''This is not yet in Cumnock, but the whole centre is the
first to be designed with that as the immediate next step. During the
course of the next year, that hospital capability will be available at
the health centre.''
The diagnostic visiting consultancy service is already installed and
has already reduced the number of referrals to hospitals outwith the
immediate area.
This use of new technology is part of the drive to lessen the
inconvenience suffered by patients, but with an interesting side effect
-- it also saves money.
Mr Sutherland explained: ''It is more convenient for the patient and
helps them achieve improved health status more rapidly. If we return to
the original scenario with your GP and if he decides there is further
diagnostic activity required, the previous route was to write to a
consultant and arrange for a follow-up appointment.
''Even though this health board area has one of the best waiting list
characteristics in the UK, with a guarantee of treatment in no more than
nine weeks, nonetheless, if you find yourself in pain with an ankle
injury you are going to have to have analgesics to cope with this pain.
And all the while you will be experiencing a degree of discomfort and
reduced functionality. And you will still then have to wait for that
next appointment.''
He added: ''But if we have both on-site physio and a remote diagnostic
capability, it would be a matter of leaving the GP, going to
physiotherapy and obtaining instant treatment. You don't need the
analgesics, your recovery is much quicker and you don't have the nine
week deterioration period to contend with during which nothing remedial
is done.''
Mr Sutherland considers this an important step forward, pointing out
that the new Cumnock Health Centre was laid out with precisely this type
of service in mind.
In the next phase of expansion, the GPs will examine the equipment
available and final plans will be laid. With similar schemes already
operating successfully elsewhere in the UK, the technology is already
proven.
For patients attending the Cumnock Health Centre, it will go a long
way towards reducing the disadvantage, in medical terms, of living in a
rural location.
Given the high numbers of people requiring treatment in the area
served by the Health Centre, this is a development which will be
implemented as quickly as possible.
Services provided include: general medical, nursing, chiropody,
consultant paediatrics, child psychology, well woman, family planning,
pharmacy, dentistry, physiotherapy, health education, orthopics,
midwifery and mothercraft.
Around 19,000 people live within the area served by the centre which
replaced a previous facility, Millbank Lane Clinic, which had been under
severe pressure for a number of years.
Mr Sutherland is delighted with the progress made to date, especially
with regard to the increased level of patient care now available and the
substantial reduction in waiting times already achieved.
When the original aims of the Trust were being explained, it took a
total of 37 meetings (18 with staff) at which the argument as to how and
why patient care could be articulated.
It has been a long, and at times difficult, process. But the results
are now apparent. Waiting times are down; an increased number of people
is receiving treatment; and much better working conditions eist for the
GPs and their staffs.
With Cumnock Health Centre having been designed to take advantage of
the opportunities now being offered by all existing and future advances
in remote diagnosis and on-the-spot attention, the #1.3 million spent so
far would appear to have been a timely investment, one which will
improve the quality of life of a great many people.
'It will go a long way to reducing the disadvantage, in medical terms,
of living in a rural location . . .an increased level of patient care is
now available and a substantial reduction in waiting times already
achieved'
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