25 April 2003
Work will begin in the autumn on a groundbreaking public-private partnership that will revolutionise health services in Greater Manchester, it has been announced.
The £100m Manchester, Salford and Trafford NHS Lift (Local Improvement Finance Trust) initiative will include the development of 'one-stop shops' for health and social care, as well as new-style primary health supercentres that will offer general practice and services traditionally provided in hospitals.
The Lift scheme is the largest of six pilots being carried out across the country. It has been difficult to attract funds to develop primary care premises through the Private Finance Initiative and ministers hope Lift will provide a solution.
Salford MP and public health minister Hazel Blears described the scheme as 'pioneering'. She added: 'This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create primary care premises fit for the twenty-first century and give people the kind of health services they deserve.'
Local NHS bodies, including primary care trusts, and Manchester, Salford and Trafford councils, will join forces with partner ExcellCare Ltd to form a local Lift company.
For the first time, local people will be able to invest directly in this company by buying shares – a move designed to give them a greater say in the development of local services.
Initially, work will concentrate on around a dozen developments valued at £50m. They include a one-stop health centre in Wythenshawe, which will house GPs, physiotherapists, chiropodists and dentists.
There will also be four primary care supercentres in Salford, each hosting a different medical speciality, as well as GP surgeries.
The first centres are expected to open within two years.
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