A major provider of GP services in York plans to open a new medical centre in the west of the city.
Nimbuscare has submitted an application to turn part of Acomb Gables at Oak Rise, Acomb, from a secure residential institution into a primary care medical centre.
Nimbuscare operates 11 GP surgeries across the city, caring for more than 25,000 people, as well as leading on York’s Covid vaccination programme.
Acomb Gables, built on part of the site of the demolished Acomb Hospital, opened in 1986 to take care of the “confused elderly in York and district”, who would previously have been housed in large mental hospitals and now are cared for in a community setting.
The site underwent a refurbishment in 2015, when the unit was being used for the care of male dementia patients.
Since then inpatients have been relocated to other services in York and only part of the building is currently in use by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust as a mental health and learning disabilities outpatients unit.
According to documents submitted by NHS Property Services: “The proposal is for the vacant space within the building to be utilised by Nimbuscare to strengthen the provision of primary care services offered in the area.
“Part of the proposal is to re-purpose the existing patient kitchen and dining room into a community café run by a local voluntary organisation.
“This will provide healthy eating options at low cost, as well as a range of other community benefits such as reduced social isolation, skills development and increased local spending.”
There are rooms earmarked for heart failure care, wound care and physio.
If approved, the centre would open from 8am to 8pm on weekdays and from 9am to 4pm on a weekend.
It is hoped that the council will make a decision on the application by February.