Plans for £60 million Parkhead health hub approved

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will now bring a range of services under one roof on the former Parkhead hospital site.

There will be primary and social care services, including mental health, addiction, criminal justice, homelessness, sexual health and children’s services.

Parkhead Library is moving into the hub and a 60-year lease at a nominal £1 per year was agreed between the council and the NHS trust in June this year.

The existing Parkhead Health Centre will remain open until the new building is complete. Work is expected to start later this year and be complete by 2024.

“The new hub aims to deliver improved population health through the co-location of services,” the plans revealed, adding north east Glasgow has seven of the 25 most deprived data zones in Scotland.

Many people within the zones are served by Parkhead Health Centre and it is hoped the new hub will “improve access to a range of services and reduce inequalities for people living in the north east of Glasgow”.

The plans added: “One of the core aims of the Parkhead hub is to reduce pressure on hospital services through the delivery of integrated service models with patients and service users more likely to access all components of their care plan if this can be delivered under one roof.

“Critical to this concept is the creation of an open, welcoming and caring facility that is easy to navigate and pleasant, calm and uplifting to inhabit.”

The Salamanca Street hub will also include GP rooms, a community pharmacy and dental services.

There will be three courtyard spaces to encourage outdoor activity, with a children’s play space in one of the courtyards.

The council’s arms-length leisure organisation, Glasgow Life, will run the library, with the NHS and Glasgow’s health and social care partnership delivering the other services.

Objectives of the health centre project include ensuring citizens “can access the right support, from the right person and at the right time” and to cut down on travel between centres.

The council approved a £2.5m contribution towards the library development in September 2019.

Last month, councillors also agreed to a “critical” £3m scheme at the Camlachie Burn to clear a blocked culvert between Shettleston Road and Biggar Street which has caused regular flooding.

They were told the health hub plans could not progress until there was “sufficient confidence that a surface water drainage connection” could be taken to the burn.