GEHE UK, which owns the high-street pharmacist chain Lloydspharmacy, will spend more than £25m developing 12 new health centres, in partnership with the NHS. The company is also negotiating contracts for a further 50 sites across the UK.
The scheme is not a true PPP as the company will have no managerial responsibility once the project is completed.
Bob Smaylen, property director for GEHE, denied that this was simply a way of building more pharmacies, while letting the NHS pick up the bill. “It is not part of the deal that the GPs have to have a Lloyds pharmacy. In fact, some of the twelve projects that we’re working on at the moment don’t even have pharmacies. What we are trying to do is expand the service we provide to doctors. And that now includes developing health centres.”
GEHE will obtain planning consent for the schemes and construct them. The company will retain ownership of the centres and let them to the NHS according to guidelines laid down by the health department.
The property development facility at GEHE UK was established in January last year, when the company secured a contract to build a health centre in Manchester, at an estimated cost of £2m. Construction of the 1,900 sq m (20,450 sq ft) centre, which comprises a GP surgery and additional space for primary care facilities, will begin next month. “This project is fairly similar to the other developments we’re working on in Oxford, Newcastle, Dundee, Swansea and Edinburgh,” Smaylen said.
EGi News 26/06/01
