Minister opens New Health and Care Centre in Ballymena

Health Minister, Simon Hamilton, today officially opened the new £25million Ballymena Health and Care Centre.

Situated on the Braid Valley Hospital site, Cushendall Road in Ballymena, the state-of-the-art centre is the largest to date in Northern Ireland.

The Minister said: “I am delighted to be able to officially open this much needed new facility today. This new £25million health and care centre will include six GP Practices as well as a mix of locally accessible acute, primary and community care services. In addition to a mental health consultation wing there will also be a separate children’s wing for all child associated assessments and clinics. Dental Services will also be provided from the centre. This will enable the local community to receive the best possible healthcare and will provide accessible, local, integrated services from a modern one stop facility.

“We are all aware of the pressures on our hospital services. The core vision of Transforming Your Care is to deliver care closer to people’s homes and reduce unnecessary hospitalisation. I believe if we want to continue to offer quality, sustainable and safe services into the future, we have to continue to develop new ways of working. This new centre will support us in achieving this goal.”

Designed and built over two and a half floors, the building provides a hub for Antrim and Ballymena locality services and a central hub for some Trust-wide services. Acute, primary and community care clinics are located on the ground and first floors and the second floor provides an administration base for staff. It allows primary care, mental health and other teams to be co-located. Intermediate care and community teams will be able to work more closely together and the provision of more specialist services should mean a reduction in domiciliary visits.
During his visit the Minister had the opportunity to speak to staff, service users and members of the design team. He was also given a tour of the new facilities.

Notes to editors: 

1.The business case for the new Ballymena Health and Care Centre (HCC) on the Braid Valley Hospital Site in Ballymena was approved by the Department in March 2012.

2. This is the first Health and Care Centre for the Northern Trust area.

3.At an estimated cost of £25million, and covering an area of approximately 9000m² it is the largest to date in Northern Ireland.

4.It provides accommodation for six GP practices and a local pharmacy, as well as a mix of locally accessible acute, primary and community care clinics. These include direct referral diagnostic services such as X ray, district nursing and community nurse specialist services such as Diabetes and Continence, Physiotherapy services, the Wheelchair service and Occupational Therapy Service, including an ‘aids to daily living service.’ There is also a separate children’s wing for all child associated assessments and clinics as well as a mental health department.

5.The building is designed and built over two and a half floors and provides a range of acute, primary and community care clinics on the ground and first floors and an administration base for staff on the second floor.

6.The new facility first opened to the public on 11 January 2016 and is expected to be fully operational by end March 2016.

7.The Newry based construction firm O’Hare and McGovern was awarded the contract to build the new Health and Care Centre.

8. Media enquiries about this press release to DHSSPS Press Office on 028 9052 0575, or out of office hours contact to Duty Press Officer via pager number 07699 715 440 and your call will be returned. Follow us on twitter @healthdpt

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