Official opening of new Clough centre extension

Official opening of new Clough centre extension

22 January 2020

CLOUGH Health Centre’s newly extended base was officially reopened last Tuesday by Department of Health Permanent Secretary Richard Pengelly.

The Province’s most senior health official lauded the new development at the Castlewellan Road in the village as “the biggest change to the delivery of primary care in a generation.”

The £337,000 extension is part of the multi-million pound roll out of multi-disciplinary teams across Northern Ireland in a further step forward towards providing enhanced services for patients at a local level. 

The renovations to the building formed part of an overall capital investment of just over £5m during 2019/20 into premises housing GP practices which are receiving multi-disciplinary teams.  

The new programme is a key element of the Department of Health’s ‘Delivering Together’ initiative designed to provide patients with direct access to physiotherapy, mental health and social work services.

The key driver of the new initiative is to help people address any issues they may have, improve their health and wellbeing through prevention, facilitate early intervention and faster diagnosis and provide timely access to appropriate services.

Mr Pengelly said primary care multi-disciplinary teams are a key part of the solution to the issues facing health and social care today.

“Simply put, this is the biggest change to the delivery of primary care in a generation and it is needed now more than ever,” he continued. “I would like to commend leadership shown by the Federation of Family Practices in Down and the GP Partners here at Clough.” 

GP and senior partner at Clough Health Centre, Dr Alex Greer, said the new extension represented “a marked achievement in our goal to improve the provision of health care services to our local population.” 

He  added: “By expanding our premises we have expanded the services we can offer our patients giving them quicker access to the treatment they need.

“Simultaneously, in assisting to shape the future of general practice in Northern Ireland, the new building will provide space for much needed trainee GPs to hone their skills in a community setting.”