Column by Thornbury and Yate MP Luke Hall. 

As local NHS services lead our fight and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, behind the scenes we have made great progress on our Positive Plan for Thornbury Health Centre.

Firstly, we have put together a strong bid for £13.3 million funding from the Government to redevelop the Health Centre. This proposal, submitted to the department of Health in December, would see a redeveloped Thornbury Hospital site, providing greater primary care and outpatient services, enhanced mental health support, facility housing for our Thornbury GP practices, social care and NHS beds and a proactive ‘frailty hub’ which would focus on the elderly community receiving care in their own homes.

This would mean that residents in Thornbury, Yate and the surrounding towns and villages can access the care they need, closer to home and without having to travel outside the area and helping to relieve pressure on Southmead Hospital.

Secondly, I brought the Health Minister to South Gloucestershire (virtually) and chaired a meeting of all the senior health directors and key decision makers to finally move the redevelopment of Thornbury Health Centre forward.

This was a great opportunity to bring the relevant bodies together to discuss the £13.3 million bid and timeline for our Health Centre. If this bid is successful, then we will be on track to deliver the Health Centre by 2024. This follows my discussions with the Matt Hancock’s last December and his subsequent pledge for national support to help us deliver it.

Finally, this week we have had a huge success in our negotiations to purchase land for the new facility; South Gloucestershire Council have announced that they shall purchase the hospital site.

This is a landmark agreement with North Bristol NHS Trust which will be considered by Cabinet next month. I can assure readers that as we enter 2021, improving our local health services even further with this vital Thornbury Health Centre is a top priority for our community and remains a steadfast part of our Positive Plan for South Gloucestershire.

As ever, I will keep you all updated on the progress of this bid and our Positive Plan for South Gloucestershire.

In the meantime if you have anything else that you are concerned about then please do not hesitate to get in touch; luke.hall.mp@parliament.