Relocating Services from Holly House Child Development Centre (HHCDC)

Unfortunately, due to the relocation of a number of services from Accrington Victoria Community Hospital into alternative health care facilities, the difficult decision has been made to move care from Holly House Child Development Centre in Accrington.

Services currently operating from Holly House will relocate from December 13, 2024, to enable the Minor Injury Unit (MIU) and X-ray facility at Accrington Victoria Community Hospital to move out. The relocation of all services from Accrington Victoria is required due to the building being no longer fit for purpose as a health care facility and will be repurposed in the future to protect the heritage of the building.

Chief Executive of the Trust, Martin Hodgson, explained: “We made a commitment that services moving out of Accrington Victoria would remain in the area and we intend to deliver this for local people before Christmas.

“Unfortunately the only place we can move MIU and X-Ray is to the part of Acorns which is currently operating as a child development centre.

“We actively recognise the value and effectiveness of this team and the families they serve and are doing everything possible to minimise disruption for them. The number of patients who are from Accrington will continue to see the same team in Acorns, which is in the same building, but I accept this may be unsettling for some of the children who have very specific support needs and we’ll be working hard to make sure they get the information they need well in advance.

“For those who travel to Holly House from Blackburn or Darwen they will see the same team they always have, but closer to home in their local children’s centre and I hope this will represent an improvement for them in the longer term. Everyone will continue to see the same people and I’d like to thank the team for working through this in a professional and supportive manner.”

The Trust has made the following commitments to families who attend Holly House about the relocation of services:

• All patients currently seen at Holly House have been mapped to their geographical area and will be relocated as close to home as possible
• For Accrington based families, which make up around 18 per cent of the total number of patients seen at Holly House, this will be in the same building – Acorns Health Centre
• Families who currently travel from Blackburn or Darwen, which is around 30 per cent of the total number of patients, will have appointments relocated to their local children’s centre
• All families will continue to see the same people they do now, with no disruption to their care and support
• The Trust will work with colleagues and families to ensure there is a smooth transition into new accommodation and that all communications are tailored to include appropriate information including images and videos to ease the move to new environments
• In addition, the Trust will do everything possible to make physical environments child friendly and appropriate, as well as supporting logistics such as car parking where this is an issue
• Families who attend the Rainbows CDC in Burnley are not affected, although support and therapy groups currently held at Holly House will relocate temporarily to this site
• The Trust is on with establishing more local venues for therapy groups and is confident these will be up and running more locally to Accrington by the time the current 10 week programmes renew

If you would like to find out more information about the health care facilities you will now be receiving care from please see below or email holly-house@elht.nhs.uk if you have any further questions and we will be more than happy to help.