A £15 million project to design, build, operate, finance and maintain four primary health care buildings has been completed and is now fully operational in Sandwell in the West Midlands.

The redevelopments have created new centres where patients can have access to GP and other primary and community health care services all in one place. These four schemes represent the first tranche of projects arising from a long-term partnership between the local NHS, the Department of Health and the private sector.

The projects have been made possible thanks to the Sandwell Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) which is part of a government initiative to supplement investment in primary and social care and community premises nationwide. The Sandwell LIFT Company is a public private partnership which is owned by Primary Plus Ltd, a joint venture between John Laing and the Bank of Scotland, and Sandwell Primary Care Trust along with Partnerships for Health.

There are four schemes which make up the project, all of which are now fully operational. They are the Birmingham Road Primary Care Centre, Oldbury Health Centre, Whiteheath Primary Care Centre and Yew Tree Health Centre. These four buildings provide services such as GP clinics, health visitors, district nurses, mental health teams and podiatry. Previously these services had been provided in cramped buildings which were not considered suitable for modern health and social care services.

Key supply chain members in the project have been Laing O’Rourke which has provided design and construction and John Laing Integrated Services which is providing estates and maintenance management. These projects became fully operational in July 2006.