A NEW care centre aiming to reduce the amount of time people spend in hospital and relieve pressure on the NHS has opened in Salisbury.

Wessex Care launched the new centre, Kimberly East, on the site of the current Kimberly East centre in Tollgate Road last Wednesday.

The new centre will provide an extra 27 beds for those requiring intermediary rehabilitation care – either avoiding a hospital stay or providing post-discharge rehabilitation.

It follows the success of Kimberly West, launched in May 2017.

Director of Wessex Care, a family-run business boasting five specialist care centres or homes in Salisbury,

Matthew Airey said: “These state of the art facilities supported by the NHS and Wiltshire Council are for adults and older people of our community in South Wiltshire.

“These are not stand alone nursing homes but multi-disciplinary, dedicated care centres focused at ensuring all customers and residents can receive highly-professional specialist support, rehabilitation, training and care they need to live their life the way they want to.”

The launch day was attended by representatives from Wiltshire Council, including the head of adult care Margaret Ndlovu, cabinet member for adult social care, public health and public protection Jerry Wickham, and Wiltshire and city councillor Sven Hocking.

Local neighbours were also invited to view the new building and celebrate the opening of the new centre.

Wessex Care will continue to work closely with Wiltshire Council and Clinical Commissioning Group to support NHS-funded intermediate and long term care provision for those in need. They will also have space for private residents who require rehabilitation or longer term nursing care.

The centre is also looking to recruit new staff members, and those interested can email info@wessexcare.co.uk or call 01722 336933.

Wessex Care plans to launch a new website to showcase its care centres, homes and services, being built by Salisbury-based agency Blue Bee Solutions, which can be found at wessexcare.com