New NHS treatment centre to be built in Devizes

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Last revised: 6 October 2008

Kennet District Council welcomes the announcement that the National Health Service is to provide an Independent Sector Treatment Centre at Green Lane in Devizes.

This Centre will provide elective day surgery and outpatient facilities to the residents of Kennet and Wiltshire. It will be much more convenient for the residents of the towns such as Devizes and Melksham. It will avoid the need for some trips to the Royal United Hospital in Bath.

The treatment centre will provide capacity for 6,000 day case operations each year which is around 25% of all the operations carried out for our residents each year. Currently, less than 10% of surgery is done locally so this new facility will help to deliver more care for more patients in Wiltshire.
The new treatment centre is part of a wider scheme across the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire area which will deliver up to 28,000 procedures each year. This will include both day surgery and in-patient surgery from six sites run by the private sector, funded by the NHS and free at the point of delivery. In addition to the centre planned for Devizes, other centres will be developed in North Bristol, South Bristol, Shepton Mallet, Cirencester and Lydney (Forest of Dean)

The schemes will improve patient services by

  • Giving people the choice of a new provider for their operation in addition to existing NHS hospitals

  • Improving geographical access to services by giving people the choice of a local day surgery facility within Wiltshire

  • Driving up standards by introducing new ways of working

  • Providing additional capacity for times when existing services are under pressure

UK Specialist Hospitals (UKSH) has been selected as the preferred bidder to run the treatment centre. UKSH is a UK based company which provides healthcare to both NHS and private patients. The company opened the Shepton Mallet NHS Treatment Centre in Somerset in July 2005 and has already operated on over 5000 patients at the facility

The Centre will occupy only one third of the NHS site at Green Lane. The Council has been told that this is separately funded from the prospective Primary Care Centre and will not prejudice the provision of a PCC. The Council looks forward to working with partners to secure the further development of the Green Lane site to provide the health needs of our residents in the 21st Century.

(Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre)

Shepton Mallet Treatment Centre