NHS bosses have revealed they are examining different ways of catering for minor injuries alongside a spectrum of other services at the country's first fully integrated health campus for Army personnel and civilians.

NHS North Yorkshire Clinical Commissioning Group bosses said building work on the Catterick Integrated Care Campus was scheduled to start in a year, but they had until the end of October to submit blueprints for the pioneering health facility to the Ministry of Defence and the NHS.

Read more: Meet the army veterans who will be spending a night sleeping on the streets

A North Yorkshire County Council meeting heard the scheme has been designed to address the lack of appropriate health facilities in the Catterick Garrison area as well as the town's rapidly increasing population.

Designs for the campus are likely to include a three-storey 12,300sq m building featuring a 70m-long waiting area, which the community could use as a meeting place.

Former Aldborough St John GP Dr Mark Hodgson, the project's clinical lead, said while the number of personnel being relocated to Catterick Garrison had been reduced, the MoD was still happy to fund much of the scheme, which has been in development for seven years.

He said although the Army and residents would share the facilities, there would be no divide between the patients and no extra security measures at the entrance.

Dr Hodgson told the meeting the campus would provide treatments for the wider Richmondshire community.

He said outpatient facilities would include chiropody and children's health services, a base for midwives as well as mental health services.

After he said current attendances at minor injuries units at the Friarage and Darlington Memorial hospitals were being examined to work out the need for such a facility at the campus, councillors highlighted as the new facility would serve a large rural area decisions on services should not be "all about numbers of patients".

Read more: Police warning after this cruel phone scam cons elderly people out of thousands

The meeting heard the campus would also serve as a hub to signpost people to various charities and support organisations that would help prevent mental health issues developing.

NHS bosses told the meeting they recognised parking difficulties at places such as James Cook University Hospital, but with plans for 148 staff staff parking spaces, 215 for visitors and 46 accessible, they had "maximised every spot we can while making it safe and secure and keeping the split between staff and visitors".

When asked if the facility would be open overnight, Dr Hodgson replied: "There's no plans for it to be open 24/7 apart from potentially the out of hours GP service, which is under discussion about what it will look like in the future.

"It would certainly look to be open 8am until 8pm as a minimum.

"The Armed Forces and their families have unique issues.

"It is felt that providing this integrated facility would help address those issues and allow the conversation between MoD and NHS clinicians to provide holistic care for the Army families."

 

Keep up to date with all the latest news on our website, or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

You can also follow our dedicated North Yorkshire Facebook page for all the latest in the area by clicking here.

For all the top news updates from right across the region straight to your inbox, sign up to our newsletter here.

Have you got a story for us? Contact our newsdesk on newsdesk@nne.co.uk or contact 01325 505054