A GP PRACTICE which caters for homeless people, asylum seekers and refugees across the Bradford district has been transformed into a new health and well-being centre.

Bevan Healthcare has moved from Sunbridge Road - where it first opened in 2003 - to larger premises on Piccadilly in the city centre, allowing it to cater for more than 3,000 patients.

The new centre will continue to offer a full range of GP services, alongside a wider holistic programme aimed at supporting people to find stable accommodation, access education, training and employment opportunities and transfer into mainstream healthcare.

Managing director of Bevan Healthcare Gina Rowlands said: "Our patients are thrilled with the new building, and being part of the move and the design behind it, it gives them a sense of ownership and pride in the premises.

"We’ve got a vibrant patient participation group and it’s been central to our vision for this new place.

"It was always our plan to buy our own premises and we’ve had great support to make this move.

"All our staff feel very positive and we’ve already had visits from health and other organisations around the country to see what we’re doing with the health and wellbeing centre.

"This is a really exciting time for us."

As a social enterprise, Bevan funded the move and refurbishment of the building thanks to a loan from Social Investment Business and Bradford Council's City Centre Growth Zone fund.

The centre will pioneer new projects, including the Bradford Bevan Pathway - a partnership with the Parkway health charity - working with homeless people, vulnerable migrants and people from other excluded groups who get admitted to hospital.

Bevan is also developing a Street Medicine Team - offering care at homeless drop-in shelters, soup kitchens and hostels - and is looking to establish an intermediate care facility with the Horton Housing Association, having secured funding to provide 14 self-contained units for homeless people discharged from hospital.

Alongside a core team of GPs and nurses, staff at the new centre will also include a health trainer, sexual health advisors, health visitors, podiatry and mental health support staff.

Bradford's Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are funding some of the new projects.

Dr Andy Withers, clinical chairman of Bradford Districts CCG, said: "Bevan Healthcare provides a unique service to some of the most socially excluded groups of people in Bradford, who often struggle to access mainstream health services.

"I’m delighted that this move will allow them to develop further as a one-stop-shop for not only health and social care, but also getting people back on their feet and into housing, training and employment."

Bradford City CCG’s clinical chairman, Dr Akram Khan, added: "I’m really pleased to see the practice go from strength to strength, delivering primary care in such an innovative way – and now in such an excellent new setting – and helping to reduce health inequalities.

"Its services pave the way for patients to transfer back into mainstream healthcare and integrate into the wider community."