The Prime Minister officially opened a new £7million care campus in Chipping Norton last Friday that was developed by bpha in partnership with The Orders of St John Care Trust (OSJCT), Oxfordshire County Council and NHS Oxfordshire, with significant input and support from West Oxfordshire District Council and the Hospital Users’ Group (HUG).
David Cameron, MP for Witney, toured the facility, which consists of the Chipping Norton War Memorial Community Hospital and the Henry Cornish Care Centre, before unveiling a commemorative plaque.
The new campus, built on the site formerly known as Rockhill Farm, consists of a 50 bed registered care home, which includes a 14-bed intermediate care unit, and a state-of-the-art NHS Primary Care Facility.
John Cross, Chief Executive of bpha, said: “This new facility is an excellent example of the high quality results partnership working can achieve and the latest in a series of new care homes we’ll be developing with our partners. The fact that there is also a primary care facility is testament to our commitment to providing communities with high quality services.”
The Henry Cornish Care Centre is the seventh major new care development bpha and OSJCT (together forming The Oxfordshire Care Partnership [OCP]) have undertaken in Oxfordshire as part of their strategic long term care partnership, working with Oxfordshire County Council.
Henry Cornish Care Centre, operated by OSJCT, replaces the charity’s Castle View residential care home built in the 1960s. Thirty three frail elderly residents transferred from Castle View in October last year and are very much enjoying the excellent facilities in their new home. An intermediate care unit, providing rehabilitation, forms part of the care home and is operated by NHS nursing care staff seconded to OSJCT. This unit became operational in February this year.
The new NHS Primary Care Facility – Chipping Norton War Memorial Community Hospital – provides an Outpatient Unit that includes physiotherapy, speech and language therapy, podiatry, X-ray services and consultant clinics (provided by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust). Other services such as district nursing and community services for occupational therapy and physiotherapy also have their offices based in the new building.
The hospital also boasts the Cotswold Maternity Unit which features two birthing pools along with antenatal and postnatal support facilities. The community midwifery unit is part of the maternity services delivered by the Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust.
The maternity unit took centre stage during the official opening when the last baby to be born in the old hospital – Tyla Aasha Read - was introduced to the first child to be born in the new hospital, Olivia Hill.
Dan Hayes, OSJCT’s Oxfordshire County Director, said “We’ve really been looking forward to officially opening the new facilities.
“A great deal of hard work has gone into this development and it is absolutely fantastic that we now have a modern, fit for purpose care campus which will benefit many, many people. Service users say they are enjoying their new surroundings and the food served in the new dining room is going down particularly well!”
Miss Sonia Mills, Chief Executive of NHS Oxfordshire, paid tribute to the partnership work that had made the campus a reality: “This has been a complex project which started eight years ago and has involved us working together across different organisations to finally see the new facilities open. The buildings and gardens are beautiful and have been designed to support modern healthcare for the future. We hope all those who use these services will enjoy the environment and come to love this facility as they did the old hospital.”
Councillor Arash Fatemian, Oxfordshire County Council's Cabinet Member for Adult Services, said: "This is an excellent facility and a great example of several organisations and bodies working together to achieve something to be proud of."
OCP has taken the lead, establishing this innovative partnership between the NHS, local authorities and the independent charitable sector to deliver the Henry Cornish Care Centre, which comes under the provisions of the care contract between OCP and Oxfordshire County Council that runs until 2032.