Recommendation 138

The relocation of NHS services requires partnership working and capital investment from the Government, which is not always straightforward. The previous Government’s Cavell Centre programme supported six pilot projects to build NHS centres designed to bring together health and social care services alongside GP practices and other services such as pharmacies and mental health support. In 2021 NHS Surrey Heartlands was successful in a bid to build one of these six NHS Cavell Centres, bringing together health and social care services in the town centre of Staines-upon-Thames. 281 We heard that the town centre site was chosen because it is both accessible to the local population and would help local businesses. After investment of several million pounds to prepare a planning application for the project, in 2023 the then Government announced that capital funding was no longer available. 282 Those involved felt that “the machinery of the state is obstructive” and the Department for Health and Social Care did not care about, or engage with, the wider benefits of the project despite the project supporting wider Government objectives. 283 Similarly, the Stockport example of moving health services into a vacant department store has not received a decision on funding and the Council has now signed a five-year lease with a furniture store to ensure that the property does not remain vacant in the medium term. 284