BOSCOMBE could be next in line for a High Street health centre similar to the one in operation on the top floor the Beales store in Poole.

Councillors were told that a cross section of sites have been looked at with health officials speaking to a number of landlords.

A meeting about a possible site for Boscombe is expected to be held this week to review the possible choices.

The BCP Health and adult social care overview and scrutiny committee heard the Poole hub, an outpatient assessment centre which was opened in November 2021, is now considered a national leader in the concept of bringing ‘health to the high street’ with other authorities keen to learn from the experiment.

Since opening in November, more than 6,000 patients have used the “Dorset Health Village”, which has operated from part of the Beales premises in the Dolphin Shopping Centre.

Deputy director for transformation at Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, Ashleigh Boreham told the meeting that feedback had been extremely positive, with more than 90 per cent rating it ‘good’ or ‘very good’. The centre is due to be open for at least three years.

He said that breast screening, in particular, had been well received by visitors and seemed to have led to an increase in the number of women coming forward.

Mr Boreham said the centres were the way of the future – taking services to the patient on the high street rather than expect everyone to come to a hospital.

“Mammography is a good example. For those who have queued in a car park in the middle of winter for a truck it’s not a great experience and it’s not dignified.

“By bringing those kind of services into the high street…is really positive,” he said.

The meeting was told the voluntary sector has been actively involved in the Dolphin Centre hub and a similar centre in Dorchester and it was hoped they would be equally keen to take part in the new centre for Boscombe.

Cllr Karen Rampton said she had visited the Poole centre as a patient recently and was well looked after and felt welcomed. “It probably needs a few little tweaks here and there, but it’s a really great service,” she said.

Said Mr Boreham: “This is a vanguard for the country – the county’s now looking at Poole and saying ‘this is the way we should be doing it’. It’s a safe environment, it’s a good environment and it connects with the people of Dorset. I’m hoping that this is something which will continue.”

Cllr Jackie Edwards was re-elected chair of the committee and Cllr L-J Evans as vice chair.