Southport MP opens new flexible health space.

Damien Moore, MP for Southport, last week opened four new, flexible healthcare rooms, now available to rent at Churchtown Health Centre in Southport.

Health and wellbeing providers, as well as businesses and community groups in Southport, can now use NHS Open Space to easily find and book clinical and non-clinical rooms within our local community, while being reassured of the safety of themselves and their customers or patients.

The intuitive booking platform means that users only pay for the time and space they need. It also makes better use of the NHS estate, driving money back into the health service at this critical time.

Mr. Moore, who is a staunch supporter of improving access to healthcare in Southport, cut the ribbon to formally open the Health Centre’s new Open Space rooms, and was taken on a tour to see the benefits that these spaces present to the local community.

NHS Open Space has recently welcomed 40 new sites to its national booking platform, bringing the total number of sites to 190, with over 1,100 rooms all available to book on a flexible, pay-as-you-go basis.

The expansion will bring more choice to health and wellbeing providers, offering clinical and non-clinical spaces for hire on an hourly or daily basis, with greater flexibility at an affordable price. Nationally, Open Space has generated over 1,000,000 hours of bookings, with 80% of rooms being used for clinical purposes.

Damien Moore, MP for Southport, said: “It was fantastic to formally open the Open Space rooms at Churchtown Health Centre. I am very pleased that these new facilities will provide increased access to health and wellbeing services in Southport, and will enable them to be delivered flexibly according to evolving local needs.

“It is right that people can increasingly get the healthcare they need, when they need, in local, familiar venues, and I am confident that our local community will benefit from these high-quality spaces. I look forward to seeing their increased use and success, and the knock-on effect that this could have on freeing up GP capacity.

“Furthermore, I am delighted to hear that the proceeds of the scheme will be reinvested into the NHS, as previously underused space in NHS Property Services’ portfolio are put to good use.”

Claire Carter, NHSPS’s Senior Facilities Manager for the Northwest of England, said:

“We were delighted to welcome Mr. Moore to Churchtown Health Centre to see our work in action, and we hope that his visit will encourage members of the community to make good use of these new, flexible rooms.”

Christopher King, Principal Strategic Asset Manager at NHS Property Services, said: 

“I am delighted to be able to announce yet another expansion of NHS Open Space this year. We have seen more than one million hours of care provided to patients across England with this scheme, showing just how vital a range of services are to local communities. From counselling and physiotherapy to vaccine administration, we hope to enable excellent patient care and deliver on the NHS Long-Term Plan through our spaces.

“For many, cleanliness and infection control will be front of mind, as they will want the confidence to inform their customers or patients they are in a safe space. Safety has been, and still is our number one priority. Using an NHS space will help take another weight off services providers’ minds, as providers and patients alike can count on us to ensure that all available sites are cleaned and maintained to the highest of safety standards.”