SWINDON’S top NHS commissioner will write to the owner of the new Swindon Health Centre over access concerns.

Nicki Millin, accountable officer at Swindon NHS Clinical Commissioning Group has promised to write to NHS Property Services together with David Renard, leader of Swindon Borough Council.

It follows concerns raised by patients’ group Healthwatch Swindon and the Swindon Equality and Access Group about a range of access issues at the new Islington Street health centre, which opened last year.

In a report published last October, the two organisations complained about 15 areas, including step access at the front of the centre, a lack of disabled car parking, unreadable signs, and lighting in the accessible toilets.

Healthwatch Swindon officer Jo Osario told July’s meeting of the council Health and Wellbeing Board the watchdog was still waiting for a response from NHS Property Services, nine months after the report had been sent to them.

NHSPS said they would be meeting Healthwatch Swindon, following a report about the access concerns in last week’s Adver.

At Swindon CCG’s annual general meeting, Ms Millin blasted health centre owners NHSPS: “The organisation has been there for around four years and their engagement locally and that’s true across the country isn’t as good as we’d want it to be. That’s true across the country.

“What we’ve agreed as an outcome from the Health and Wellbeing Board is that myself and the leader of the council are sending a letter to NHSPS to ask them to respond to that report.

“They are also going to be invited to the council’s overview and scrutiny committee to give a response to that. While they are part of the NHS, they are not part of the same organisation that I am, so all I can do in common with other people is write and put some influence on that.”

She said access concerns had also been raised with NHSPS’s regional and national managers.

The Swindon NHS Health Centre opened in June 2017, housing a GP surgery, walk-in centre, specialist health services and a pharmacy. It cost £10 million.

Last week, Glenis Niven of Swindon Equality and Access Group told the Adver: “I knew on the first time entering the building there were going to be more issues. When you’re confronted with an eight-inch step with no hand rail it’s hard to get in.

“I had to go there every day for weeks, so I started to make jottings of problems within the building.”

Jason Ferris of Healthwatch Swindon said: “Service providers must have regard to our views, reports and recommendations and respond to the local Healthwatch explaining what action they will take.”

A spokesman for NHS Property Services said: “Some of the actions in the report have been completed and we are addressing the others. We’re sorry Healthwatch did not receive a response from us. Our local team will be in touch very soon to arrange a meeting.”