Devizes health centre costing £11m officially opened by NHS

The state-of-the-art facility on Marshall Road was opened by Dr Richard Sandford-Hill, a GP partner of Market Lavington surgery, on Wednesday, February 22, shortly after patients were able to start accessing its services.

The building is one of the first integrated care centres in the Wiltshire region and received £11 million of funding from the NHS.

Dr Richard Sandford- Hill opened the centre along with Devizes mayor Peter Corbett. (Image: Trevor Porter)

It will offer GP appointments, outpatient clinics, community care and mental health support, blood testing and physiotherapy, all under one roof.

Patients at the Lansdowne, Market Lavington, St James and Southbroom surgeries can all be referred to the facilities urgent care service while it will also take on the services previously offered by the Devizes Community Hospital.

Inside the new health care centre (Image: Trevor Porter)

Sue Harriman, chief executive officer for the Bath & North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board, said: “I am delighted that the new health centre in Devizes is now open and I would like to pass on my thanks to everyone involved in the delivery of this project.

“The new centre will provide services to the growing local population, as well as offering enhanced services for our community.

“We know that being able to offer a range of services under one roof is really important, and this will deliver a number of health benefits to our population.”

A waiting room in the new health centre. (Image: Trevor Porter)

The care board hopes these benefits will include quicker access to health care closer to patients’ homes, and claim the centre will be a hub for same and next-day care.

Dr Sandford-Hill expressed his support for the new centre.

He said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the new Devizes Health Centre has now opened its doors to patients.

“This state-of-the-art building will be the flagship location for local health care, and the people of Devizes should feel very proud to have such an excellent facility right on their doorstep, which will inevitably be the envy of towns and cities up and down the country.”

Facilities at the centre. (Image: Trevor Porter)

The modern facility was delivered by NHS Property Services and is one of the NHS’ first net zero buildings, using green technology such as heat pumps and solar panels to generate electricity and heat.

Health and social care secretary Steve Barclay MP said: “The opening of this new state-of-the-art health centre will support Devizes’ growing population and help up to 50,000 patients per year continue to access the right care when they need it.”