A HEALTH hub which is taking pressure off Andover's hospital and GP practices has completed 2,000 health checks - just five months after it opened. 

Andover Health Hub in the Chantry Centre opened in January 2023. The health hub has been offering NHS health checks to anyone aged between 40 and 74 years old with no pre-existing conditions, particularly if they have not received a health check during the pandemic.

The former Covid vaccination centre reopened the health hub, enabling residents to pop in for blood pressure and other health checks in a bid to help prevent and diagnose conditions early on and improve people’s lives in the local community.

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In April 2023 the centre had an uplift and now has five consultation spaces, two treatment rooms, and an informal meeting space from which Wessex Cancer Support and social prescribers offer drop-in sessions. Baby weighing scales and breast-feeding sofas will be installed at the centre in the coming months.

Andover Primary Care Network clinical director, Dr Sarah Sierens, said: “It is a great achievement for all the team at the health hub to reach 2,000 NHS health checks. I am looking forward to seeing the hub develop over the next year to provide additional services for the local community and to continue to reduce the pressure on our local GP practices.”

The hub also continues to offer Covid jabs, this spring the vaccination programme runs from April until June for people aged 75 years and older, residents in care homes for older people, and those aged five years and over who have been advised that they need a spring vaccination.

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Head of Strategy and Innovation at Test Valley Borough Council, James Moody, said: "Reaching 2,000 health checks will be brilliant and highlights why the Andover Health Hub was needed in the first place. I’m delighted Test Valley Borough Council has been able to play a role in bringing this important service to the town and I can’t wait to see its success continue to grow."

Associate director for Health Improvement and Place in North and Mid Hampshire at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, Ali Young, said: "Test Valley Borough Council and the Integrated Care Board will work with partners to increase the range of services over time with a focus on preventing health issues and therefore reducing the number of people requiring NHS treatment."