Major improvements in health, social care and community services in the upper Calder Valley may now be possible as a result of the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) of GPs receiving extra funding from the government’s Vanguard programme.
The news has been welcomed by Calder ward coouncillor, Liberal Democrat Janet Battye.
Coun Batty said: “This is really exciting. We’ve all been concerned about the future of hospital services and what any changes might mean for us in the upper valley.
“The Council and CCG have been working together on ‘Care Closer to Home’ bringing together health and social care services and making it easier for people to get access to them in their home area.
“We’ve examined how this could work in practice and there was a really exciting workshop in Todmorden Town Hall recently.
“Over 100 people attended – doctors, nurses, local councillors, paramedics, and so on – and they came up with lots of good ideas.
“Getting this funding really is the icing on the cake to make developments possible.
“I hope that Todmorden Health Centre can really become a ‘health and wellbeing hub’ for the Upper Valley, making it a one-stop shop.”