Plans for Richmondshire care campus move closer

Discussions are continuing to take place around plans to create a major new state-of-the art health and care complex in Richmondshire.

NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), together with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), NHS England and NHS Property Services (NHSPS) want to build a new health and wellbeing hub at Catterick Garrison.

It will look after military and civilian populations equally and be a hub for Richmondshire, helping people to be “healthy and well”, while giving patients access to “high quality health services when they are poorly”.

The Governing Body of NHS North Yorkshire CCG has now approved the outline business case and this allows the project to progress to NHS England for formal review and approval.

Dr Mark Hodgson, Richmondshire GP and Governing Body Member with NHS North Yorkshire CCG said: “The Catterick Integrated Care Campus will be a hub for the whole of Richmondshire. We are delighted that the CCG Governing Body has signed off the outline business case giving us the opportunity to move to the next stage of this ambitious and innovative project.

“It’s something the area has never had before and the plans aim to address the significant difficulties that residents currently experience accessing secondary care facilities.

“This project is about health and wellbeing in a truly holistic sense; it will not just be a traditional health care facility. We’ve put a lot of work into agreeing the principle of the facility being a space that people can come together centred around health and wellbeing and where the more formal healthcare provision will be much more approachable and accessible than traditional facilities.

“The aim is to help people to help themselves to better health and wellbeing whilst at the same time providing the safety net of more formal health and social care when people need it.”

Major General Paul Cain, Director for Healthcare Delivery for the MOD’s Joint Medical Group, said: “The Catterick health and care campus will be an example of best modern healthcare practice and meet the needs of our military and civilian populations now and in the future.

“More service personnel and families are set to be rebased on to the Catterick Garrison site over the next 10 years; it is absolutely essential there is the right healthcare to meet this increased demand as well as for the wider population of Richmondshire. The sign off by the CCG Governing Body is an important next step in bringing our vision to fruition.”

Karina Dare, NHS Property Services Regional Partnership Director, said: “This is an exciting development which creates an opportunity to have an integrated, modern health and wellbeing centre to serve the needs to the local community. We look forward to working with our partners and engaging with the community as we develop the project.”

The NHS and MOD are continuing to meet regularly to look at the health and social care needs of the current population as well as the needs of potential future residents – both military and non-military. These discussions have been informed by public health data and conversations with the wider population since 2013.

Plans for the Catterick Integrated Care Campus currently include GP and Primary Care services, as well as a large range of additional healthcare services such as mental health, maternity, sexual health, drug and alcohol and social care services. Proposals also include a rehabilitation suite, shared office and meeting space and community areas. The NHS and MOD would be aiming to open the new facility in 2024.