Update on Healthcare Services in Leighton Buzzard – 31 January 2025

At the end of 2024, the ICB was pleased to update residents in Leighton Buzzard on the progress made in improving local healthcare services.  This included the publication of an Outline Business Case (OBC) – both a full version and a summary version – focussed on the longer-term options for developing local healthcare estate funded by the sale of the DHSC-owned Vandyke Road site in the town.

Latest service improvements in Leighton Buzzard are making a difference

A new Integrated Same-Day Minor Illness Service was launched in the Town on 2 January 2025, run by a range of healthcare practitioners including paramedics, nurses and pharmacists, and based at the Health Centre. These appointments are available daily, and bookable via the patient’s registered practice on the day for acute minor illness, e.g. Chest infections and Rashes. All clinics are overseen by a supervising GP.

This Servicehas been supported by the creation of a new clinical space in the Health Centre which completed in December. An additional clinical room has been created from a previously under-utilised area of the building. This is a partnership project led by the owners of the building, NHS Property Services, and BLMK ICB.

Additional Winter Pressure Clinics are also being delivered to help meet increased demand. These are running daily as on the day and pre-bookable appointments, and an additional 1,200 appointments have been made available since 1 November 2024. Additional GP resource has also been secured by the Primary Care Network (PCN), working across all three practices.  

The PCN is pleased to report patient feedback on these changes has so far been positive, particularly with regards to timely access to appointments, patient communication and the range of services available. Initial data on Pharmacy First also indicates good usage in the Town.

Future investments in local healthcare estate

As we reported last year, the ICB is exploring converting further unused administrative space in the Health Centre into extra space for seeing patients. Architectural designs have been developed, and NHS Property Services have gone out to tender for these works, planned to be funded by a time-limited and ring-fenced national budget.  If the tender process is successful, then a further six clinical rooms will be created in the Health Centre by Spring 2025. This would significantly boost plans for expanding the local Same Day Minor Illness Service.

We expect to know within the next six weeks whether the project can proceed, based on the outcome of the tender process. If successful, it is anticipated that the sale of the DHSC-owned Vandyke Road land, on which the options presented in the Outline Business Case rely, would not need to be sold at this stage.

The OBC demonstrated that the sale of the site would not be sufficient to fund a new facility, and that the only potentially affordable way to use these funds at this stage would be for the redevelopment of the existing health centre. It is hoped that many of the improvements proposed for the Health Centre could now be achieved through the national ringfenced funding which has been made available. This would enable the Vandyke Road site to be retained and made available towards any further developments in the future.  This ICB will continue to keep residents and partners updated.