Benefits to individuals

Community Health Partnerships helps ensure that individuals are treated in modern, integrated health and social care facilities where many of their needs are met in one place instead of in numerous, difficult to reach, out-dated buildings.

In a matter of years, CHP has helped develop some of the best new facilities, once found only in the private sector, inside the NHS, particularly in areas of social disadvantage.

Lord Warner, when Health Minister, described the benefits: 'We should look forward to a point where it will be increasingly common for patients to visit a local "one-stop shop" to see their GP, a physiotherapist, a specialist nurse, and a social worker. They should be able to attend an out-patient clinic, have a prescription made up at the pharmacy and, possibly, ask for an eye or hearing test. Patients should no longer have to travel all around town for these different services.'

CHP is now extending its work to new ways of running services via, for example, Community Ventures and Social Enterprises, that can respond better to unmet need. A key part of CHPs work is to ensure that services and buildings are created with proper local consultation and using local partnership.