Teignmouth Health & Wellbeing Centre

On this site you can find out more about our plans for the design of the new centre and let us have your feedback on what you think.

Take a look at the design information and then let us have your thoughts by completing a very short questionnaire. Alternatively you can email or send in your comments to Avalon Planning & Heritage, The Generator, King’s Wharf, The Quay, Exeter, EX2 4AN. The deadline for comments and completion of the questionnaire will be 5pm on Thursday 21st January 2021.

A new way of delivering Health and Social care

We believe the best way to help people stay well and support them when they need expert health and care is to bring services together and integrate them around the needs of individuals.

We can’t do this in the current fragmented and outdated premises.

Our shared plans, as approved by NHS England, include:

• Creating a vibrant new Health and Wellbeing Centre on the Brunswick Street site. This will accommodate:
• The largest Teignmouth GP practices - Channel View Medical Group (formerly Channel View Medical Practice and Teignmouth Medical Group).
• A range of other services including the health and wellbeing team of community nurses and therapists, and lifestyles and prevention services voluntary sector services including Volunteering in Health to help connect people to wider services and activities to support their physical health, mental health, social care and wellbeing.
• Supporting sustainable GP services, working together with partners to bring services closer to people’s homes, improving communications between services, enhancing ‘joined up’ working and training our future workforce.
• Offering people rehabilitation care in their own homes or in a short-term care home placement. Local people will be able to access GP, outpatient and some other services from the new centre. Other specialist services, such as minor day surgery and consultant-led appointments are provided within the Coastal locality. Further information about our vision of health and care on the Torbay and South Devon NHS website.

A History of firsts: Health Services in Teignmouth

Teignmouth Hospital was opened in 1954 and was the first general hospital in the country to be built after the formation of the NHS. As would be expected of a building designed nearly 70 years ago, and despite some improvement, it is approaching the end of its economic life - particularly the electrics, ventilation systems, pipework, heating systems. It also has drainage problems and its access does not comply with current legislation (Disability Discrimination Act).

The hospital is not designed for the flexible and integrated health and care services required today.

All this, together with access issues, being at the top of a steep hill with poor transport links, has meant a search for a more suitable site for a new building.

The successful introduction of the innovative integrated care model in the Coastal area in 2015/2016 was a national first. This involved focussing on what is important to people and we made significant investment in community services, including in the professionals in health and wellbeing teams, to deliver care closer to home.

The success of this integrated care model with care delivered at home and in the local community is evidenced in a reduction in the need for hospital admissions, particularly for older people.

Public involvement in our plans

• First consulted on the new model of care in 2014/15
• Engaged people about the location for a new centre in 2018. Brunswick Street was the preferred site
• Engaged with a group of Teignmouth stakeholders throughout
• Consulted with the public on the further integration of services in 2020
• Now engaging on the design of the building as part of the process to secure planning permission of the site

Benefits to the population of Teignmouth

• The purpose-designed centre will create the right space to meet broad overall health and wellbeing needs of the local community
• Coming together in one building will support closer working relationships and co-ordination, benefiting patients, their carers and families as well as staff
• GP practices will have the space to recruit and train more staff and continue to deliver high quality. The centre will be light and airy, designed to modern day building standards and easy to access including for those with a disability
• The building is centrally located and very flexible in terms of people being able to move around the building with numerous entrances and exits. This is vastly improved standard of accommodation to the existing GP practices and aged Teignmouth Hospital
• The development on Brunswick Street makes good use of a brownfield town centre site with good access to public transport and existing car parks
• There is economic potential for Teignmouth town centre with the co-location of town centre shops and amenities to the health and wellbeing centre
• The development is a significant part of investment in and the re-generation of Teignmouth Town Centre and currently derelict area of Brunswick Street Improvements to George St pedestrian access have been incorporated into the design of the new building

Proposed Scheme

Design Challenges

There are a number of challenges that the team, led by KTA architects, have had to deal with in coming up with the design. An independent panel of experts have reviewed the design, so we can be absolutely sure that it meets with the Council’s challenging heritage requirements for the site and is the best it can be within the constraints of the the site.

Some of the challenges influencing the design are:

• The development site is on a flood plain. This has necessitated a raised ground floor level.
• As the site is in a conservation area, the design (particularly the exterior) has to meet with the exacting approval of heritage consultants and fit sensitively in with the surrounding buildings.
• The site is quite constrained which has limited the number of car parking spaces on site. We have agreed with the council that two adjacent on road parking spaces can be allocated to the centre in addition to the five on-call spaces. Public parking is also located nearby.
• Getting all the services on to the one site is an absolute necessity, due to the benefits of the integrated model. This has created a significant challenge due to the size of the building needed on a restricted triangular site.
• Although most of the building has now been demolished, we have had to divert a public right of way and a culvert running across the site, and make safe underground fuel tanks.
• Ensuring the building design does not impact negatively on neighbours has been important given its size. ‘Neighbourliness’ and dealing sensitively with the party wall issues has been an important element of the design as it has evolved.

Evolution of the design: Outside

Evolution of the design: Inside

Timeline