Catterick’s new £110m integrated care campus (ICC) could welcome its first patients in June, councillors have been told.
The update has come as a senior NHS official gives assurances on the future of the Friary Hospital in Richmond.
The ICC — which is described as the largest collaborative health partnership between the NHS and the MOD to date — is due to be fully open by September.
Lisa Pope, NHS Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board’s (ICB) deputy place director for North Yorkshire, gave an update to North Yorkshire Council’s Richmond area committee this week.
She said: “We are close to closing out the build now, so we are at the point of discovering bits of pipes that we didn’t know were there and doing all of our water testing and all of those things that are important to be finished off before we open.
“We said spring as a kind of elastic date, and we’re looking at beginning what’s called a government soft opening in June and then we’ll close out and hopefully have everybody in situ by September.
“As you can imagine with any kind of build, obviously this is contingent on the weather and also anything that we find as we go to the final stages of the build, but we are broadly in line with our timeline.”
Councillors were told that some NHS services were transferring from the Friary Hospital to the ICC.
There has been concern in the community about the future of the Richmond facility, in particular the nurse-led Victoria Ward which offers services including palliative care, rehabilitation following general surgery and orthopaedic surgery.
But Ms Pope reasserted the ICB’s desire to continue using the Friary.
She added: “The ICB continues to be committed to providing primary care in Richmond and sees the Friary Hospital as the most suitable site to do that.
“We continue to be committed to services being provided from the ward, and are planning for the future of the Friary collaboratively with South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and also with our primary care colleagues.
“Any changes to the Friary will be subject to public engagement and consultation so we’re not at that point yet and we’re continuing to talk to everybody who is involved in the Friary, but we are absolutely committed to its future.”
I hope the hearing air service at the friary is not to be moved. It is in a good place for people with hearing problems, most of them elderly and unlikely to want to travel Into Catterick Garrison to get their aids serviced. Can Joe Willis find this out for us please.