A report commissioned by the NHS has been criticised for dismissing the need for new healthcare services in Westbury, and saying the town is ‘not wealthy’ enough to attract private providers.
The report, produced by development consultants JLL, is expected to be used to support NHS Property Services’ planning application to put houses on the Westbury Hospital site.
It claims that the White Horse Health Centre can provide adequate healthcare for the town’s forseeable future, and that Westbury is not affluent enough to attract private extra care developers.
And the report says there is little demand for new healthcare because, “Westbury is located near a number of larger towns which provide many key services.”
Hospital campaigner and chair of the League of Friends, Erica Watson said, “This is a horrible and damning report of Westbury. If people in the town truly are as deprived as it says, we should have better access to healthcare, and not have to pick up extra travel and parking costs.”
The report goes on to say that large regional centres are the favoured hospitals, and that the Westbury area has an oversupply of care home beds, with more being built nearby in Trowbridge.
The report also observes that Westbury is not considered well off to attract developers of ‘assisted living facilities’. It reads, “The average house prices for the Westbury area would be considered too low to justify development for a sales model. Private extra care developers typically look for higher than average house prices for a potential new site.
“Higher than average prices indicates a higher level of affluence resulting in a higher proportion of people that can afford premium extra care accommodation.”
The report predicts that there will be over 30,000 residents aged 55+ by 2024, but does not consider the elderly population big enough to require another care home.
GP services are also considered to be well catered for; the report reads, “The opening of the White Horse Health Centre has substantially enhanced the provision of NHS services in the town which makes it highly unlikely there would be a requirement for another health centre.”
The report says the health centre currently has 19,479 registered patients from the area, and is “future proofed” up to 30,000 patients. An estimate made with data from the 2011 Census has the Westbury community area’s current population at just over 19,000.
The report has a letter attached from Debra Elliott, director of commissioning for NHS England.
Her letter concludes, “The Westbury Group Practice is the only practice serving the town and there are no plans to develop another practice in the area. The building has been planned and constructed with sufficient capacity to deal with the expansion of the town and new patient numbers, although much of that expansion has already occurred.
“Therefore I can confirm that there is no requirement for all, or even part of the site, to be retained for primary health care use as far as NHS England is concerned.”
NHS Property Services announced earlier this year that it would submit a planning application for 72 homes to be built on the site. No application has yet been made as yet but campaigners believe that it will come when Wiltshire Council decides on changes to the town’s settlement boundary.
Previously, not all of the hospital site was within the town, which could have presented an issue for planners who are discouraged from building outside of town boundaries. A change was proposed this summer to incorporate the whole site within Westbury, but it has not yet been finalised.
