DETAILS of how a £46 million new primary healthcare plan will be delivered in Southend have been published.

Southend Clinical Commissioning Group and Southend Council are set to streamline the way GPs and other healthcare providers will work together in future under a ten-year investment programme.

The plans are based on providing comprehensive care for residents in four locations across the borough with NHS and government funding.

Care of patients within these areas will be provided by integrated primary care centres which will see a range of health care, social care professionals and GP surgeries work together in order to lessen the number of hospital admissions.

Plans for a new £4 million primary care centre in Shoebury, to replace a dilapidated health centre, are still part of the plan, despite being put on hold by the cash-strapped group earlier this year. The Echo revealed Southend Council could help fund the new build, before renting it to the group.

The St Luke’s surgery, which currently operates from a temporary building in Pantile Avenue, Southend will merged into a £7.5 primary care centre. A “community integrated care hub” costing £3 million will be created in North Road, Southend

A new or extended £4 million health centre is also planned for the Queensway area. Primary care centres in Valkyrie Road and in Leigh will receive funding of £3 million and £2 million respectively to deliver a broad range of services.

Publishing its plans, Southend Clinical Commissioning Group said: “In partnership, the CCG and local authority have ambitious plans to bring health and care services together to make significant improvements in how and where these services are delivered in a primary and community care setting.

“By working in a more joined-up fashion and promoting the prevention agenda, unnecessary hospital admissions can be reduced and patients can remain independent in their own home for longer.”