A brand new £24m health centre is to be converted straight into offices without ever opening to patients – because NHS services say they cannot afford the rent.
Altrincham Health and Wellbeing centre was originally meant to provide a range of medical services, including a minor surgery suite. A number of tenants, including St John’s medical centre, Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS trust, Pennine Community Services and Barrington medical centre, had all been lined up to move into the new Market Street building, which was completed just a few weeks ago.
Papers from Trafford clinical commissioning group reveal concerns over rental costs of the property. After the trust said it was ‘no longer in a position to commit to previous assurances given to providers regarding cost neutrality’, NHS organisations said they were unwilling to pay the resulting rent.
Full story in The Manchester Evening News, 29 October 2018