A new NHS healthcare centre is to open in South Birmingham, thanks to a property rental agreed by Real Estate Investors (REI).
The Birmingham-based, AIM-listed real estate investment trust has sealed the deal for the South Birmingham Community Diagnostic Centre to open this summer in Maypole at the former Halfords unit.
The centre is a partnership between NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, and InHealth, the UK’s largest specialist provider of diagnostic solutions.
It will give patients easy access to diagnostic tests closer to home, reducing the need for hospital visits and providing quicker delivery of care.
Ian Clark, a director of Real Estate Investors Plc, said: “We are delighted to have finalised this property rental to provide a space for such an important initiative.
“This will bring a vital new Community Diagnostic Centre to Maypole that will directly benefit the health and wellbeing of the local community.”
The 4,542 sq ft space is the final vacancy REI has let at its property on the A435 Alcester Road South, a major arterial route running into Birmingham city centre.
Developed in 2007, the property already hosts a 60-bed hotel and six ground floor shop units, with tenants including Travelodge, Poundstretcher, Ladbrokes and Subway.
The new health centre will offer a wide variety of diagnostic tests in one place, including MRI, CT and ultrasound scans, X-rays and other health screening services.
It will be one of three such centres in Birmingham and Solihull, with others in Washwood Heath and Chelmsley Wood.
Faith Button, chief delivery officer at NHS Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Board, said: “This will be a fantastic resource for local people, helping to get the diagnosis and care they need as soon as possible and close to home.”
Martin Richardson, executive director at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “The Community Diagnostic Centre positively transforms access to important diagnostic tests that will streamline assessments to improve integrated healthcare and health inequalities.”
Geoff Searle, chief executive at InHealth, added: “This new centre signifies another step forward in providing additional capacity, improving health outcomes and increasing the range, scale and accessibility of services for the local population.
