Mixed reaction to plans for £16m Trowbridge health centre

NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board confirmed the services will relocate from Trowbridge Community Hospital.

An ICB spokesperson said: “I’ve been told that the existing MIU and X-ray service will relocate to the new building.”

Some residents had raised fears the services would not be transferred after failing to spot any reference to them in plans for the new facilities.

Commenting on the Wiltshire Times website, Darlo Boy said: “So what will happen to the minor injuries unit and X ray departments at the current hospital?”

In response, Sapiente said: “I do hope that the Trowbridge health centre is better than the one in Devizes.

“There are no new health services in the Devizes Centre, no diagnostics, no X-ray and certainly no MIU. The Devizes GPs are not even based there.

“The best you can get is a phone call from a doctor after you have phoned your GP surgery.

“You cannot even phone the health centre to change an appointment! All the services provided by the old Devizes hospital have gone and not been replaced.”

Work starts on the £16m Trowbridge Integrated Care Centre at Hammersmith Fields. (Image: Trevor Porter)

Work to deliver the state-of-the-art health and care facility in Trowbridge began last week after the project was given the green light.

The centre is being developed on Hammersmith Fields off Seymour Road close to the community hospital with completion expected at the end of next year.

The 1,768 square metre centre will have up to 30 consulting rooms, to be built in two phases, and parking for 109 vehicles instead of the 126 originally planned.

Some of the services in the new centre include maternity care, physiotherapy, podiatry and community-based mental health support.

Trowbridge Community Hospital services will be moved to the new site in phases as part of a planned relocation process.

An artist's drawing of the Trowbridge Integrated Care Centre (Image: NHS Property Services)

The centre is being developed by NHS Property Services and funded by NHS England; the Department of Health and Social Care; NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board and Wiltshire Council, which has contributed £3 million.

Some Trowbridge town councillors, who objected to the plans, are still not happy about the development, despite Wiltshire Council giving it the go-ahead.

Cllr Edward Kirk, who called in the NHS planning application after concerns about insufficient parking on the site, said: “No, I’m not happy with the plans.

“There’s not enough parking on the old site and I don’t think there’s enough for the staff on the new site.

“It is a scaled-down project. It wasn’t what was originally agreed.

“It’s like putting in planning permission for a four-bedroomed house and then giving us a semi-detached two-bedroomed bungalow.

“Trowbridge needs the facilities but I think we have been told a bit of lie, as it’s not what it was originally planned to be.”

Trowbridge Town Council leader Stewart Palmen said: “This is good news though I would have preferred a fully pledged hospital for Trowbridge.

“I think it’s a shame that the population centre of Trowbridge has to travel all the way into Bath to go to hospital when there is enough demand in the immediate area for a local hospital.

“I am happy with what is being proposed. I haven’t got the sort of issue that Cllr Kirk was worried about with the parking.

“I’ll believe the NHS Trust until I’m proved wrong. They have said they have done the calculations and they are going to let their staff park in the car park so it shouldn’t affect the roads around there.”