The Ridge Medical Centre
Delivering better primary care environments to
optimise patient care
The Ridge Medical Practice owns three sites in
Bradford. It employs 21 doctors, 11 nurses, 5 healthcare assistants
and dedicated administration and management teams.
The practice’s aim is to deliver the best possible
primary health care for the growing needs of its local community.
In order to accommodate the demand and provide a wider range of
modern primary care services, such as minor surgery facilities and
a serviced pharmacy, it was decided a state-of-art surgery was
needed.
Creating solutions
The EC Harris primary care team has significant
experience delivering primary care asset solutions through both
‘Third Party’ and ‘GP End-Owned’ development solutions. The team
was appointed as lead project consultants to successfully deliver
all aspects of this £5.8 million project from conception, in
partnership with The Ridge Medical Practice.
This involved: identifying a suitable site;
producing a viability report for the board; securing financial
backing; managing the design and development plans for the new
surgery; negotiating with the District Valuer; advising on the most
appropriate procurement vehicle; and maximising the asset’s future
potential to deliver a range of primary care services.
Adding value
The primary care team has a range of experts - a
number of whom have previously worked in practice management or for
Primary Care Trusts - with significant experience in dealing with
Primary Care Trusts and the relevant stakeholders to effectively
deliver health facilities on budget and in the shortest possible
timescale.
In order to achieve this for The Ridge Medical
Practice, the team:
- Facilitated a series of steering group meetings
throughout the initial stages of the programme to ensure community
engagement
- Advised how to maximise funding from public and
private organisations to ensure the best possible facilities could
be provided to the community
- Drew on the expertise of a number of other
consultants within EC Harris to provide a complete and continuous
service to the practice.
EC Harris also drew on its extensive network to
ensure the practice received the best VAT and pharmaceutical
consultancy possible. This led to the practice securing a
pharmaceutical service which: is convenient for the local
community; plays to the NHS agenda; and delivered a significant
cost benefit to the practice. In turn, this also reduced the
Primary Care Trust’s rental package and therefore increased the
scheme’s viability, whilst unlocking capital for the Trust to
invest elsewhere
The Ridge Medical Practice will serve more than
20,000 people, and has helped catalyse wider regeneration of the
region.
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