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'