Practical completion has been reached at Washwood Health Health and Wellbeing Centre that will see Forward Thinking Birmingham, the city’s mental health partnership for 0-25 year olds, move into a new state-of-the-art building.

Lead provider, Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, bases the service out of five hub locations around the city.

And Blakesley House in Yardley, one of the centres, was identified for disposal as it is no longer fit for purpose, with staff needing to relocate.

The variation has cost £1.2m and will reduce the level of void space within the building as well as providing a modern, state-of-the-art, healthcare building within an area of high health need.

The internal reconfiguration has allowed Forward Thinking Birmingham to place extra safety measures into the building, such as heightened balustrades on the stairs and landing areas and extra CCTV.

Alongside partners Prime and Integral, changes have been made to deliver seven new clinical rooms including four consultation rooms, two physical health rooms, and a family therapy room.

Julian Humphreys, programme manager at Community Health Partnerships (CHP), which owns the building, said: “It was great to visit Coventry Health Centre and see the brilliant work it is doing with epilepsy services, breast cancer screening, blood tests, special needs dentistry, and refugee and asylum seeker healthcare.”

In the past year Washwood Heath Health and Wellbeing Centre saw more than 45,000 patients benefit from its new £2.18m Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC).

Previous works provided the latest cutting-edge diagnostic imaging technology for X-ray, MRI, and ultrasound, alongside heart investigations and access to blood tests.

A predicted 16,000 patients a year have had X-ray appointments at the centre, which has brought the benefits of quicker access to diagnostic care closer to home and has played a key part in reducing the NHS elective treatment backlog.

The building is a core asset for the NHS in Birmingham provided by Birmingham and Solihull LIFTCo alongside CHP with the improved space now delivering services within this area of high health need.

Damion Begley, general manager at Forward Thinking Birmingham, said: “Washwood Heath Medical Centre provides FTB with the modern healthcare setting that our patients, families, and staff need, and more importantly, deserve.

“Since moving in we’ve received many comments about how bright, spacious, and welcoming our new environment is.

“Providing mental healthcare in a large multi-use healthcare premises, based right in the heart of the community that we serve, is also helping us to continue to break down the stigmas associated with mental health.”