Yr Hen Orsaf Medical Centre
The Yr Hen Orsaf Medical Centre is a local resource centre of 1,245 m². It houses the local GP practice and Community Health services, as well as a dental suite and pharmacy.
Our Clients’ Needs
On the edge of the Snowdonia National Park, Bethesda serves patients from a large rural catchment area.
Its various health service providers faced several difficulties:
- The GP practice worked from a small, outdated surgery in a converted house.
- The local Community Health Trust was housed in a separate building that was too small to accommodate a full range of services, and there was no scope for refurbishment.
- Bethesda’s only dental practice had closed, and a lack of suitable facilities made it impossible to attract another practice.
- The local pharmacy occupied a small shop unit in a building that was not compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act.
MCD has an outstanding track record developing medical centres in North Wales, so the problem was brought to us. It made sense to bring together all the health service providers within a single medical centre, for the benefit of patients.
MCD’s Approach
We consulted closely with the Local Health Board and healthcare providers, agreeing the details of our brief. We identified two challenges:
- Finding a suitable site in an area that is densely developed, on land with steep gradients.
- The planning constraints particular to a National Park.
MCD secured an appropriate site. It was in a run-down area of the village, so the development offered significant regeneration.
Next, we again consulted closely and achieved a design that meets current medical demands while offering sufficient flexibility to adapt to future requirements.
Our Solution
The planning permission we secured for the Centre met the design brief in all details. So close to the National Park, the building respects its environment, incorporating locally sourced slate internally and externally.
The Centre benefits from:
- Contemporary design suitable for a modern clinical facility but also appropriate for its setting
- Energy efficient building materials, offering significant cost savings
- The building's light and bright feel , which enhances the wellbeing of patients and staff
- Sound proofing for patient confidentiality
- High quality finishes to minimise maintenance costs
- Good patient flow around the building
- Excellent car parking facilities
- An attractive ‘cloistered’ courtyard enhancing the status of the development
Health Outcomes
The completed building offers facilities that enable patient care to be significantly improved. Major factors include:
- The extended building offers patients a fully integrated local service that accommodates four Bethesda GPs as well as staff who were previously based in the local Community Health Clinic. Additional services include: district nursing, health visiting, ante natal care, midwifery, chiropody and podiatry.
- The building houses many community health services, such as: child health, a baby clinic, toddler groups, teenage groups, a nutritional advice centre, and a smoking cessation information centre.
- Treatment rooms comply with the latest guidelines in respect of patient dignity and confidentiality, and infection control.
- Dental services are available once more.
- The pharmacy offers more services. Under the same roof as the GP practice, it is more convenient for the patients, and doctors and pharmacists now work more closely together.
- The GP practice has been built with the flexibility to add additional services or facilities in the future. The local GPs have expressed some interest in making Bethesda a teaching practice in the coming years.
