Little Lever Health Centre still has no GPs a year one

Celebrations were held to mark the first anniversary of Little Lever Health Centre and Library this week.

The purpose built £5million Little Lever Library and Health Centre had been one of the borough’s most anticipated new developments when it opened in February 2022.

Calls for the health centre were made as far back as far back as 2009, with health bosses being urged at the time to bring forward plans to build a modern health centre fit for patients.

But although library services are now up and running at the Mytham Road centre, people are still unable to see doctors or access health care services.

Cllr Sean Hornby, who represents the area on Bolton Council, said: “We’re on the first anniversary now and I well remember attending the opening of the library, our chief executive at the time got up and thanked me for it.

“We got up to where we got up to and we were told that in three months time the doctors would be in.

The new health centre is still waiting for GP services (Image: Newsquest)

“Now its 12 months on and there are still no doctors!”

The £5.5million facility was opened with great fanfare last year as a ‘state-of-the-art’ purpose built new combined health centre and library that would help care for people’s wellbeing across the community.

Cllr Hornby said: “This is a purpose built facility, originally they wanted to move it into a converted Tesco but we said no, we’ve got to have a proper purpose built centre.

“We argued and argued for it and eventually we got the extra resources to do it.”

The new health centre has been in development since 2014, with Little Lever’s old GP building on Mytham Road falling into disrepair and deemed by Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group to be no longer fit for use.

The new 1,206 square metre steel frame and brick building, located on the site of the former Tesco Metro on Foundry Street, has been designed to be “eco-friendly” and includes solar panels.

Cllr Hornby says he is concerned about long running delays (Image: Cllr Sean Hornby)

But since then Cllr Hornby, of Little Lever and Darcy Lever First Group, has reported regular complaints from residents about the time taken to bring in GPs.

Health services were set to start running in March 2022 following the opening the previous month.

Cllr Hornby said: “It’s not just the delays, it’s the revenue that we’ve been losing all this time.

“The GPs themselves are very keen to get in, its just bloody stupid bureaucracy.”

He added: “In the end we had to make a threat and that threat was to use another building, which jigged them up a bit.”

But the long serving councillor is worried that constant delays could see people’s confidence in the entire project start to waver.

He has already raised the issue several times at Bolton Council meetings over the last year and is still concerned about the apparent lack of progress.

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Cllr Hornby said: “This is all work that could have been completed long before now.

“Residents are losing faith, justifiably so.”

But Bolton town hall officials have said they still hope to move GPs into the Mytham Road centre as soon as possible.

A spokesperson said: “Bolton Council confirmed it is continuing to work with the NHS to move health services in as soon as possible.”