LIFT programme continues to expand this year
One new surgery or health centre is due to open under the Local
Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme every week this year. Health minister
Lord Warner has revealed that 60 new primary care LIFT developments
are due to open during 2006 following an investment of £270m
as the Government’s multimillion pound initiative to redevelop
primary care premises gains
momentum.
He said: “The NHS has never witnessed such a sustained investment
in GP surgeries and health centres. These are purpose-built facilities
where GP services are often on the same site as pharmacies and social
services, and are not simply like-for-like replacements.”
The Government has already invested £700m in 54 LIFT projects that
have either created brand new premises or brought improvements to existing
sites. Many of the projects have created one-stop shops for health care,
bringing together different health professions under the same roof.
Community pharmacist Neil Farrimond is manager at the Manor Pharmacy,
which is part of Worsley Mesnes Health Centre in Wigan, built under LIFT
and opened last June. He said the development had brought together a
range of different health care professionals as well as providing shared
learning resources, including teaching rooms on the same site.
He said: “There is better liaison between the different professionals.
If I have a query about a prescription I can easily approach the GP about
the problem.
“I think it will also make it easier for us to provide services
under the new contract like smoking cessation because patients are presenting
all the time and they don’t have to face a half mile walk down
the road to see you.”
The National Pharmacy Association, however, continues to have some reservations
about the initiative. Tonia Morton, the NPA’s NHS development manager
for the Midlands, East and North England, said there were concerns that
the developments can take pharmacy business away from other local pharmacists.
She pointed out that consultation about the scheme was not always as “thorough” as
it could be. Centralising GP services can also sometimes reduce patient
access to services, she added.
She said: “Primary care trusts and local authorities could ensure
that frequently used primary care services — such as the management
of minor ailments and monitoring of long-term conditions — can
continue to be provided from the high street and close to patients, by
commissioning such services via the community pharmacy network.”
A hub and spoke model of provision, with the LIFT centre as the hub and
the local community pharmacy network as the spokes, may be appropriate
in many areas, particularly rural ones, she added. |
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