Duke St Regeneration to Continue With New Community Healthcare Facility

Planning permission has been secured for the development of a community health centre that regeneration chiefs hope will breathe new life into an area of St Helens town centre.

The Lowe House Primary Care Resource Centre will be built at the corner of Oxford Street and Crab Street, St Helens, housing four GP Practices and a range of community-based health and social care facilities.

It will replace St Helens PCT services and one GP practice in the existing Lingholme Health Centre as well as Albion Street Clinic.

These will include a musculoskeletal pain clinic, sexual health and family planning services, a minor surgery suite, children's audiology suite, ophthalmology suite, phlebotomy, respiratory care and a retail pharmacy unit.

Rebecca Burke-Sharples, chief executive of St Helens Primary Care Trust, said: "This building will be the jewel in the crown of the Duke Street regeneration plans. Our aim is to provide a building that meets the needs of the local community in an imaginative and practical way. Key to the success of this development is the commitment to partnership working."

St Helens Primary Care Trust said the complex, which will be built by the PCT's LIFT (Local Improvement Finance Trust) company, Renova.

It is hoped the development will provide a focal point for the ongoing regeneration of the Duke Street area of St Helens and that will enhance the main Western gateway approach into St Helens town centre.

St Helens Star

Building work could begin in September and be completed by December 2009.