Empty £3m NHS unit at the Countess of Chester Health Park may be sold

Feb 27 2009 by David Holmes, Chester Chronicle

AN NHS beds unit built at a cost of £3m but never occupied looks likely to be sold and used for patients recovering from brain injuries.

Private company St George Healthcare wants to create 57 jobs by taking over the 28-bed intermediate care unit at the Countess of Chester Health Park, which was completed in June 2005 but has remained empty.

The independent hospital will help the rehabilitation of people with neurodisabilities, which may include mental or physical disabilities, in many cases following treatment at the Countess of Chester Hospital, in preparation for returning home.

Neurodisabilities may be present because of an accident, cerebral palsy, stroke, MS, MND epilepsy, dementia, AIDS, Huntingdon’s Chorea and a number of disorders.

Warrington-based St George Healthcare has applied for planning permission for a hydrotherapy pool at an additional bungalow at the site, having already gained planning consent for two single storey bathroom extensions.

St George Healthcare spokeswoman Denise Ujvari said negotiations were ongoing over the purchase.

The building was originally built by Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust as a unit for mainly older patients recovering from hospital treatment.

PCT bosses later defended its decision not to occupy the building , arguing NHS thinking had changed and that it was now thought better that elderly people should be cared for in their homes with support.

Anne-Marie Storey, of Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust – the successor body to the PCT which built the unit – said: “We have got strong interest from more than one quarter but nothing has been finally signed.”

St George Healthcare Group provides “a holistic” neuro-behavioural rehabilitation programme for the most challenging and complex brain injury patients. In addition, deaf people with mental health needs have access to a range of treatment and therapies unavailable on the NHS.