Heartbeat December 2019

Ground-breaking cements our
care partnership
Chief Executive, Toby Lewis (right), with (left to right) Nicola Plunkett, a patient at Lyndon Health
Centre and Dottie Tipton, Primary Care Liaison Manager
An official sod-turning ceremony
marked the start of building work on
a new £6 million medical centre. This
will see two existing GP practices move
onto the Sandwell Hospital site. The
new facility will be built as part of a
plan to streamline and improve medical
care in the area, ahead of the opening
of the new Midland Metropolitan
Hospital in Smethwick.
It will house Carters Green Medical Centre
and Lyndon Health Centre, which are both
relocating to the new facility. The Your
Health Partnership Primary Care Network,
of which the Trust is a part, will be the lead
provider of services, for almost five per cent
of the borough’s population.
The changes are a result of a decade long
promise, made during the consultation
which looked at how services would change
once the new multi-million pound hospital
had been built.
The Sandwell Hospital site will house
an urgent care centre, which will work
CORPORATE AND GENERAL
NEWS
alongside primary care colleagues to
create a single menu of urgent care
options for local residents in line with
the NHS Long Term Plan. A pharmacy
will be co-located with other facilities on
the site to offer local people the right
options for care.
Welcoming the formal start of the
development, Chief Executive, Toby
Lewis, said: “When complex hospital
services move or change, they are often
replaced by services that it is more
difficult for people to see, or know that
they are there. This creates a sense that
trust has been broken, and services lost.
“I am delighted that, in addition to
the 200 community based beds that
we have opened since 2015, and the
forthcoming care home development
led by the local authority, we can now
point to this purpose built GP practice,
which opens before Midland Met and
the acute care changes at Sandwell. We
are keeping our promises to re-shape
the local health service for 2030 and
beyond. Doing that in partnership with
Your Health Partnership, with whom
we have an ever closer alignment, is
a logical step for us towards a more
integrated model of care across
Sandwell.”
We make the Inclusive Top 50 UK
Employers list
Our Trust is proud to be recognised in
the Inclusive Top 50 UK Employers list.
We're featured in the coveted list of
UK based organisations that promote
inclusion across all protected characteristics,
throughout each level of employment.
We ranked 26th, recognised for our
continuous dedication to diversity, equality
and inclusion. As well as addressing areas
of improvement, we have developed and
delivered high impact initiatives to actively
implement solutions.
Donna Mighty, Assistant Primary Care
Liaison Manager said: "It is good to receive
recognition once again for the work that is
being undertaken within our organisation.
We must continue to strive and do what is
right in the pursuit of equity for all.”
The list is compiled by a dedicated panel
of judges. Organisations featured have
provided sufficient evidence on a range of
topics including recruitment procedures,
training and a host of diversity-related
initiatives.
Demonstrating the promotion of all strands
of diversity including age, disability, gender,
LGBT, race, faith and religion; the list
focuses on representation at management,
senior, executive and board level.
To see the full list go to https://
www.inclusivecompanies.co.uk/
inclusivetop50/201920list/
Donna Mighty, Assistant Primary Care
Liaison Manager
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