Edward Hain Memorial Hospital to reopen as health hub in St Ives
The building has been bought for £1,020,000 from the NHS
A million pounds has been raised to save the Edward Hain Memorial Hospital in St Ives and bring 'vital health services' back to the community.
The community in St Ives are celebrating having saved one of its iconic buildings, which has been bought for £1,020,000 from the NHS, with its future safeguarded.
The former hospital’s League of Friends, formed in the 1960s, helped to raise funds for the hospital. When the NHS announced in late 2021 that they intended to sell the building, the Friends were determined to prevent its legacy from being lost to commercial development.
It will soon open as a new health hub for St. Ives and surrounding areas: the Edward Hain Centre.
"Much-needed health services back to the town"
Lynne Isaacs, chair of the new Edward Hain Centre said: "The hospital touched the lives of so many generations in St. Ives. The outpouring of goodwill towards our project demonstrates their loyalty. We’re thrilled that we can now bring much-needed health services back to the town."
People are being invited to a celebratory open weekend on September 9th and 10th.
"We hope the whole town will turn out to look around the centre and hear about what we have planned. We’ll be running various events over that weekend, too. Everyone is welcome!”
The services at the new centre will include medical and clinical sessions across all ages and needs, offered by providers with whom discussions are already underway. Many will be free at the point of delivery.
The aim is also to support people with conditions like Parkinson's, dementia, and other mental health challenges, as well as working with health-related groups and charities offering broader wellbeing and preventive services such as food quality awareness and yoga.
Dr. Dan Rainbow, Local GP and Clinical Director for Penwith PCN says, "On behalf of the local GPs at the Stennack Surgery, and the wider community of health and care professionals, I would like to congratulate the team behind the successful acquisition of the former Edward Hain Hospital. We very much welcome the exciting prospect of seeing the development of a range of community focussed activities at the new centre which will no doubt be of real benefit for our local community.
"This fits with our aims in Penwith of keeping the care and support of our communities "as close to home" as possible. Well done to the dedicated team who had the vision, passion and commitment to see this through, to NHS Property Services and the local council who supported the process and to the many hundreds of local people who raised funds to keep this historic building in local community ownership."
Donna Trudgeon, centre's secretary, said: "We can’t wait to bring the Edward Hain building back to life.
"We welcome input from volunteers and our community"
"If anybody represents a health and wellbeing organization that would like to work with or rent space from us, please contact us."
A new charity was set up to own and run the centre, all of whose trustee-directors have strong links to the town. Two trustees’ St. Ives lineage goes back to the 1500s. Another is a great-niece of Captain Edward ‘Teddy’ Hain, in whose name the hospital was founded in 1920 after he was killed in WW1.
Between now and mid-September the Edward Hain Centre trustees will be working hard to oversee repairs and renovations at the building, with some rooms, they say, ready to be occupied soon. The legacy of a young WWI soldier, in whose name the former hospital was founded, is being given a new lease of life for the benefit of the St. Ives community.
You can contact the Edward Hains Centre at info@edwardhaincentre.org.uk.