More than £1.6m was spent on controversial Shrewsbury 'super GP hub' plan before it was put on hold
It has emerged that more than £1.6m was spent on the now-paused bid to create a 'super GP hub' in Shrewsbury.
The money, which came from NHS England funding, not from NHS Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin's (NHS STW) budget, was used to develop plans for the controversial scheme.
Ultimately the plan, which goes by the official title of the Cavell Centre Programme, was 'paused' by NHS England in March, and it is yet to be seen if the programme is to be revived.
The hubs were being considered in a number of locations across the country – Shrewsbury, Derby, Plymouth, Hucknall, Staines, and Sleaford.
Local NHS bosses had been working on the proposal since 2021.
It would have seen six of Shrewsbury's GP practices – The Beeches Medical Practice, Belvidere Medical Practice, Claremont Bank Surgery, Marden Medical Practice, Marysville Medical Practice and South Hermitage Surgery – moved into one purpose-built building.
The proposition met with concern from some residents and criticism from some councillors, but health officials and GPs stressed that it was the best way to protect and improve primary care services for patients.
NHS STW said that the process of planning for the scheme had required a set process to be followed by NHS England.
The funding was used to complete those requirements – such as an options appraisal and the development of strategic, economic, commercial, and financial plans.
A spokesman for NHS STW said: “As one of the six pilot sites of the national Cavell Centre programme, NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin need to follow a specified planning process to develop the business case for ICB and NHS England (NHSE) approvals.
“NHSE provided non-recurrent funding to NHS STW to complete this work which includes the project initiation document, options appraisal, and the development of the strategic, economic, commercial, and financial plans for the development.
"As is usual with estates-related developments, we also had to buy in technical experts such as a dedicated project manager, architects, legal advice and business case writers and pay for communications, advertising and stakeholder engagement activity.
"The amount spent since inception in 2020/21 to date on our local Cavell Centre programme, fully funded by NHSE, is £1,670,128. The decision to pause the programme was made by NHSE.”
