First health services to be run at Worthing's WICC within weeks
Released: Wednesday, 11 December 2024
The countdown has begun to the first medical teams starting work at Worthing's new state-of-the-art health centre.
Construction firm Galliford Try has handed over the keys to the Worthing Integrated Care Centre (WICC) so that NHS services can start to move into the more sustainable building, on what was formerly a Worthing Borough Council car park.
The new neighbouring multi-storey pay and display car park will open to the public on Wednesday 11th December 2024, providing extra capacity for shoppers visiting the town centre by car or bike. 49 of the spaces are available to the public around the clock. In addition, 86 of the spaces that are reserved for NHS staff and patients from 8am to 6pm Monday to Friday can be used by anyone outside those hours. It means that at weekends there will be 135 public spaces in the car park.
The multi-storey car park is accessed from Civic Place, a new one-way route leading from Richmond Road and exiting on Stoke Abbott Road.
The construction of the WICC and the car park have been funded by the council and will transform healthcare in the heart of the borough. Achieving the latest milestones means the buildings will be able to be used by patients within a matter of weeks. They will also begin to generate income for the council in rent from the new tenants and parking payments.
The Paydens pharmacy will open early in January while dental services provided by Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust will transfer there from the current temporary base in Liverpool Gardens before the end of January.
Worthing Medical Group is expected to move its practice from its current sites in Shelley Road and Heene Road to the WICC early in the new year.
Teams from Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which run mental health services across the county, will also move into the building early in 2025.
Cllr Rita Garner, the council's cabinet member for regeneration, said:
“As a council for the community, we're determined that everyone in Worthing should be able to access good healthcare quickly and easily.
“Building the WICC in partnership with our friends in the NHS will bring a wide range of NHS services under one roof, making them more accessible for our residents.”
Dr James Ramsey, the Chief Medical Officer at NHS Sussex, the integrated care board for the county, said:
“This is a really exciting development and we are delighted that we are so close to services moving into the new health centre early next year.
“Through our five-year strategy Improving Lives Together, all health and care partners are committed to providing more care closer to home for local people, integrating care and improving access and this centre is going to be fundamental to this for people in and around Worthing.
“Our thanks go to Worthing Borough Council for all of the work it has done to get it to this point - and all partners are really looking forward to seeing services open in the centre in the coming months and the benefits this will bring for the local community.”
When the WICC is fully operational it will be the first centre of its kind in Sussex, providing a range of NHS services on one site and allowing the community to receive better healthcare.
As well as offering GP, dentistry and mental health services as well as a new pharmacy in a central location, the WICC's medical teams will be able to carry out some small-scale operations that patients would otherwise have had to go elsewhere for.
Photos: Worthing Integrated Care Centre (WICC) and car park
(PR24-087)
Page last updated: 20 December 2024