Local NHS organisations have set themselves the task of delivering a patient-centred, modern and integrated health service. The Greater Peterborough health investment plan sets out the way in which this task can be achieved. 

The local plan will provide patients and GPs with greater choice of where their health services are provided and will move many services close to patient’s homes. This will reduce the need to travel to hospital for minor tests and treatments, provide faster access to services and ensure there is a hospital bed available when you need one.

The are a number of compelling reasons why we need to modernise our services. The local population is growing by around 1% each year and will increase by approximately 25,000 by 2010. In addition the demand for emergency care is growing by 2% each year, increasing pressure on our services and sometimes leaving us with very few empty beds.

We also need to invest in new facilities as many of the local NHS buildings are:

• unsuited to modern healthcare,
• costly to run,
• do not meet modern NHS standards,
• have no room to expand, and 
• are poorly located for the people they serve.

The health investment plan covers a range of service developments from the introduction of more GP, nurse and therapy specialists, to 100 more beds and the provision of new local health care centres providing a range of services, which could include: 

• inpatient rehabilitation 
• X-ray and diagnostics 
• minor treatments 
• community services 
• GP surgeries, and 
• outpatient clinics

• A high-tech diagnostic and treatment centre (formally outpatients) that will provide many one-stop services where all the tests and investigations needed by a patient are scheduled to take place during a single visit. This may include the treatment or surgery a patient requires where this can all be completed in less than a day.
  
• A new emergency care centre where all patients will be assessed on arrival and immediately referred to an appropriate specialist working within the centre. By using the same assessment procedures, GPs and nurse practitioners will be able to arrange direct admission to a ward. There will also be dedicated areas for children and adolescences.
  
• Inpatient wards that are of a much higher standard with many more single rooms, day rooms, greater privacy and bedside telephones and TVs.
   
• A woman and child unit that brings together all maternity, gynaecology and children’s services within a specialist unit providing a high quality environment and the same facilities as the inpatient wards.
  
  
• A range on new services, including two high-tech linear accelerators for the treatment of cancer. 
  

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For routine care GPs will remain the first point of contact for all patients, however if you need the services of a specialist or need to visit the hospital your GP will be able to book your appointment, giving you a day and time convenient to you.

NHS Direct will become the main entry point for people seeking urgent treatment. The 24-hour nurse advice and health information service will direct patients to the service most appropriate for their needs. 

Health services will be more accessible. Many services currently only provided in hospital will be available closer to people's homes. You will not have to make separate visits to the hospital for the initial outpatient appointment, any diagnostic tests you may need and, in  many cases the treatment you require.

The quality of our services will be much higher. There will be all single sex wards, many more single rooms, more high-tech equipment and more specialist staff. Services will be designed around the needs of our patients and full consideration given to the needs of those with a sensory or physical impairment.

We will be getting much more health care from every pound we spend. We will spend less on overheads, eliminate wasteful duplication and the cost of moving patients, staff and equipment between the hospital sites.

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