McGimpsey opens award-winning Health Centre

Ulster Unionist Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey, officially opened the award-winning £10million Knockbreda Health & Care Centre, today.

The fifth of seven Centres being developed in the Belfast Trust area, Knockbreda Health and Care Centre will provide a range of services in a 'one-stop-shop' environment, bringing together treatment, care and information services that would previously have been provided from different locations.

The modern, purpose-built Centre includes service specific treatment facilities,10 bookable consulting rooms, a procedures unit, diagnostic facilities, support accommodation and café. Medical services provided at the Centre include therapy, community dental, social work and nursing, adoption and post-adoption, GP out-of-hours and a Citizen's Advice Bureau.

Officially opening the Centre, Michael McGimpsey said: "Knockbreda Health and Care Centre will transform health and social services in this area, making a real difference to local people. The Centre will provide greater access to a wide range of services in the community, close to where people live and work.

"Primary care is the cornerstone of our health and social care system in the 21st century and this Centre is a practical example of a one-stop-shop approach to primary healthcare, bringing together, for the first time, services which had previously been provided from a number of buildings throughout the Borough of Castlereagh."

In June 2009, Knockbreda Health and Care Centre received recognition in the Design & Health International Academy Awards in Singapore. The awards recognise professional excellence in the research and practice of designing healthy built environments. Knockbreda Health and Care Centre won an award in the category of International Healthcare Project in recognition of the design of the building being patient-centred and demonstrating an understanding of the therapeutic effect of a 'healing' environment.

The South Belfast UUP MLA said: "This award winning building clearly demonstrates how my Department, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and their design teams have worked effectively together on health and social care planning and design. This recognition clearly demonstrates that Northern Ireland is a global leader in the design of health and social care facilities."