Workers will start investigating a potential site for a major new health and wellbeing hub serving Ely and Caerau.
The new health and wellbeing hub would potentially offer a wide range of services, including GPs, counselling, mental health support, community rooms and advice areas.
One potential site is on park land behind the Ely and Caerau Hub on Treseder Way. Work started last week to investigate the land to see if it’s suitable for the new building.
The work includes excavating some parts of the site, but all the affected areas will be reinstated after the investigations, according to Cardiff council.
The council is working with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board on the early-stage plans for the new health and wellbeing hub.
Councillor Lynda Thorne, cabinet member for housing and communities, said: “We’re working with the health board on an idea for a new hub, and while these plans are not advanced at this stage, some investigations need to be carried out to inform any design work about the suitability of the land for any future development.
“So people in the area will see contractors on the land near to the existing hub.”
The new building would be similar to another health and wellbeing hub, currently under construction in Llanedeyrn. The Wellbeing Hub @ Maelfa will offer a ‘one-stop shop'; with health services, education and advice in the same building. Construction began last summer.
The Wellbeing Hub @ Maelfa will combine the existing services at the Powerhouse Hub, run by Cardiff council, and the Llanedeyrn Health Centre, run by the health board.
Plans for health and wellbeing hubs form part of a wider push by the health board to bring clinical services closer to local communities, reducing the need for patients to visit larger hospitals like the University Hospital of Wales at the Heath.
Councillor Susan Elsmore, cabinet member for health and social care, said: “Should the scheme progress, it will be a real boost for the local community, providing a new clinical space for local GPs and other health professionals, capable of hosting a range of specialised health clinics — bringing them closer to the communities who use them.”
Designs and details of the new hub in Ely and Caerau have not yet been revealed. The council said this was dependent on getting funding for the new facility.
