The new £16 million pound Station Plaza Health Centre in Hastings is now open, with the first patients having walked through the door on Monday 24th May.
It follows an open day last week (20th May) during which more than 200 local people were given guided tours of the new building. These detailed the services which will be on offer for them to use.
The new health centre, which can be found right next door to Hastings train station, will soon be home to 5 GP practices, including a Walk-In Centre, as well as a pharmacy, dental practice, sexual health clinic and community services.
The first GP practice to move in, Cornwallis Surgery, started seeing patients at the start of the week, along with the newly located Sexual Health Clinic.
Two other practices, The Plaza Practice (Dr Higginson) and Station Practice (Drs Seal/Hughes) which are moving from Wellington Square, as well as services including the new dental practice and pharmacy will start operating from Monday 1st June.
The new Hastings Walk In Centre will be open by the end of June. This will offer care from a GP or nurse to anyone, with the service operating from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week.
Stone Street Practice (Dr Nicholson) will move to Station Plaza later in the summer.
Station Plaza Health Centre is part of an overall effort by NHS Hastings and Rother to give local people as much choice and flexibility as possible when they want to see their GP, or receive treatment from other health-care services.
For more information, please visit the special Station Plaza web pages or call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47.
Factfile: What Station Plaza will offer local people
• Station Plaza Health Centre will make it easier for local people to get receive care from GPs by providing space for up to 12 doctors (4 more than are currently serving the area).
• With space for more GPs Station Plaza Health Centre will help improve the doctor/patient ratio in the area and so help deliver better care.
• 4 existing practices (Wellington Square (Dr Higginson and Drs Seal and Hughes), Stone Street and Cornwallis Gardens) will be moving into the new state of the art building from their current premises in central Hastings. These premises are not fully accessible to all.
• The centre will also house a ‘Walk In Centre’, staffed by two GPs as well as practice nurses. This will be open from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, with the service available to anyone who wishes to use it, regardless of whether they live locally or are registered as a patient.
• The GP practices will offer a number of prevention services, including smoking cessation and some screening (for example, cervical screening).
Also on offer will be:
• a Sexual Health Clinic which will move from its current home at Ore Clinic in Hastings to a more central location with excellent public transport links. This will help promote better access to screening, prevention and treatment services.
• a Pharmacy
• a Dentist
• a range of community services offering clinics and treatment at a convenient location for patients.
