Talks will commence with Newry and Mourne GPs in the coming weeks about proposals for a £30m health hub for Newry. The Southern health trust is making plans to merge Newry’s Health Village and the trust’s social care facilities at John Mitchel Place and Drumalane onto a single site called a Community Care Treatment Centre (CCTC). The plans are in response to Department of Health endorsed Compton Review which places a greater emphasis on community based care. If the CCTC gets the go-ahead it will encompass services which do not require a hospital bed. It will generally support GP consulting, minor surgery/ procedure rooms, X-ray, out of hours services, integrated care team for older people and primary care and children and young people. Community dentistry, mental health services, specialist diabetes, stroke, Chronic Obstruction Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) chronic heart failure services would also be offered. The centre would be led by GPs and a recent health working group meeting of Newry and Mourne District Council heard talks will commence with GPs “in the next few weeks. The centre would be funded by a private investor. The trust has said the proposals are based on the creation of accessible community based care that provides support to people as close to home as possible. It said it would help reduce hospital attendances and improve waiting times for those requiring specialist hospital care.
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