New minor illness clinic coming to Leighton Buzzard - and could 'scale up' over time
Improved healthcare is being delivered in Leighton Buzzard, despite delays publishing the findings around extra service provision for the town, a meeting heard.
An outline business case considering options locally and funding sources was due to be presented in May, but is unlikely to be available until November, Central Bedfordshire Council’s (CBC’s) social care, health and housing overview and scrutiny committee was told.
However, Bedfordshire Luton and Milton Keynes Integrated Care Board (BLMK ICB) says that improvements are being delivered, including a minor illness clinic for 2025.
BLMK ICB associate director of estates, Nicky Barnes, explained: “This is an important and emotive subject for the local community.
“The work done on the outline business case was triggered largely by the previous government’s agreement that land owned by the Department of Health and Social Care in Leighton Buzzard could be sold to generate capital funding for extra health capacity in the town.
“While there’s been a temporary pause in the talks, that hasn’t held up service improvements in Leighton Buzzard. There are extra primary care appointments being delivered, particularly in the evenings and at weekends.
“Around 2,000 extra blood tests are being taken every month in the town. That’s helping people not to travel further for those tests.
“The work force supporting people in the town has significantly increased, so we have a robust multi-disciplinary team relieving pressure on our GPs and helping patients.
“A new minor illness clinic will be starting in January on a small scale initially. But the primary care network practices have ambitions of scaling this up over time.
“Some more space has become available at Leighton Buzzard health centre on Bassett Road and we’re rapidly exploring how this can be best used. I’m happy to committing to a public update about that in November,” she added.
“The ICB would only support the sale of the Vandyke Road site if it was directly linked to the delivery of extra infrastructure capacity in the town.”
David Messum, who was representing the Leighton Linslade Health Matters group, suggested: “The briefing document we prepared highlights the aggressive decline in the scale and scope of healthcare infrastructure plans with every update.”
Leighton-Linslade town councillor, Andrea Kidd, referred to a vigil held to show the strength of feeling within the community, saying: “We want healthcare services localised to stop residents needing to travel considerable distances to receive it.
“Having to travel far increases the risk of some patients needing hospital treatment, while putting a strain on family and friends supporting them sometimes to the detriment of their health.”
Liberal Democrat Leighton Linslade South councillor Emma Holland-Lindsay, who chairs the committee, also attended the vigil, where a resident told her about attempts to improve local healthcare dating back 40 years.
“This is the frustration,” she said. “We’ve seen the town grow with a huge amount of new housing, and the services are under increasing pressure. There seems to be no plan to address that. There’s no minor injuries clinic in Central Bedfordshire.”
Councillors agreed the ICB should bring the outline business case to the committee in November, including its findings around colocation with community facilities in Clipstone.