Halton Borough Council and Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals (WHH) are creating a new Health Hub at nearby Runcorn Shopping City. From this hub, WHH is planning to offer Ophthalmology, Audiology, and Dietetics outpatient appointments.
Offering these services in a retail environment will make it easier for patients to access these services, some of which will be expanded to offer a greater range of tests. Halton residents will no longer have to travel out of the borough to receive care.
As well as being more convenient for patients, the proposed move reduces the risk of having to enter a hospital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially important for the most vulnerable and those with long term conditions.
Audiology and Ophthalmology would move just 300 meters from Halton Hospital’s outpatients to the Shopping City while Dietetics would move from St Paul’s Health Centre, a distance of 3.5km, served by public transport.
Current staff would relocate with their services and there will be no change to staffing levels. The vacated space at Halton Hospital will be reallocated to clinically appropriate services – either those that require additional space or those that are relocating from Warrington, in line with the Trust’s plan of expanding and further developing Halton as its dedicated elective site – much of which is already underway as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.