Brampton Health and Community Project

The project to replace various health and community facilities in Brampton continues to make progress. The following is a statement on the latest position by Dr Craig Melrose of Brampton Medical Practice:
In Brampton, plans to redevelop our aging community hospital, incorporating a new GP Surgery and other community facilities, are progressing. Investing partners are finalising their plans to be part of the new scheme, and design concepts are in development.
More services, including in-patient beds and minor surgeries, will be delivered from Brampton Community Hospital to create a ‘health-campus’, providing a bridge between treating a patient at home and care in the big acute hospitals. In Brampton we are also exploring with Cumbria County Council plans to locate care homes within the same facility.

Development Partner
In a few weeks, NHS Cumbria will be ready to tender for a Development Partner who will manage the re-build of our community hospitals.
The Development Partner will assist us to finalise designs and costs and also provide finance, so is essential to deliver our new hospitals. The Development Partner will engage with the people of Brampton, building local supply chains where possible and working with the community, hospital and GPs to deliver modern, high quality facilities.

Health Impact Assessments
NHS Cumbria is planning to undertake Health Impact Assessments at two sites that have been highlighted for consideration for Brampton’s new Community Hospital. The two proposed sites are the Irthing Centre site and Kingwater site.
Health Impact Assessments (HIA) will be undertaken to identify the effect that developing the new hospital will have on the health of the local population. The assessments are based on the principle that health is affected by a wide range of factors including social networks and living conditions, lifestyle factors and access to quality health services.
The HIA process will engage with a wide range of people in Brampton including members of the public, professionals, elected representatives and voluntary organisations in considering the positive and negatives health impacts of developing the hospital on each site.
Work to determine the best possible site is still on-going. A Health Impact Assessment is separate to this site selection process, yet is still a valuable tool to identify the potential health impacts of each location.

People in Brampton can be assured that when a decision is made it will be in the best interests of the community.
In the meantime, the concept scheme in Brampton is developing. This is an exciting time for the community hospital. The new state-of-the-art building will be developed into a health campus that will be open longer, deliver a range of new services and significantly improve the provision of healthcare for patients in Brampton. This will allow a number of agencies to pool their skills and resources, integrate their work and provide enhanced services to the community.

Dr Craig Melrose

Brampton Medical Practice