Check your health as you shop in Hull

Health will be brought to the High Street when a groundbreaking new facility opens its doors in Hull city centre.

NHS Hull, the city's primary care trust (PCT), has taken on a 10-year lease for a two-storey unit at St Stephen's shopping centre in Ferensway.

The base, which officials say is the first of its kind in the UK, will be called Health Central and is designed to make access to health and lifestyle services easier.

It will open for six days each week and is due to open in February 2010, with more than 35,000 people expected to benefit from it every year.

It will be home to:

Health trainers to give one-to-one advice about how to live a healthier lifestyle

A unit for people to check their weight, body mass index (BMI), body fat content and blood pressure.

Health information kiosks using information from the NHS Choices website

NHS health checks for people aged 40 to 75

Stop smoking advice and support

Breast screening

Dr Wendy Richardson, director of public health for Hull, said: "We are really excited about this development, which will bring together a range of services to support Hull residents to make positive lifestyle changes.

"Health Central will bring health to the High Street and give opportunities for people to have a health check or get advice on stopping smoking, managing their weight and sensible drinking whilst in the city centre.

"The added value of the Transport Interchange will make all the services more accessible and convenient."

It is hoped members of the public will visit Health Central for advice and information while out shopping and the base will help to tackle some of the city's biggest health problems - smoking, obesity and alcohol.

In Hull, 34 per cent of men and 30 per cent of women aged 16 and over smoke, compared to 23 per cent and 21 per cent nationally.

Sixty-seven per cent of men and 55.9 per cent of women are either overweight or obese in Hull.

The city also experiences higher rates of alcohol problems than the national average.

NHS Hull said an assessment has shown there are more than 85,000 hazardous or harmful drinkers and more than 8,000 dependent drinkers in the city.

Jo Cole, public health manager for tobacco control at NHS Hull, said Health Central will be an "open and inviting" place to visit.

"Hull is leading the way in this new approach to health and lifestyle advice," she said.

"We have done a consultation exercise on it and it has been really well received."

Breast screening, which is provided by Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and commissioned by NHS Hull, will relocate from its current base at Age Concern in Porter Street, west Hull, to Health Central, and appointments will be made for 1,000 Hull women each month.

The unit at St Stephen's also includes space for meetings, consultation rooms and an area for other activities including yoga and dance.

Some of the services, including breast screening, will be run by appointment-only, but advice and information about health and lifestyle will be available on a drop-in basis.

St Stephen's centre manager Jim Harris said: "We and the landlord, British Land, are delighted that the deal is finally complete and we can look forward to the opening of the UK's first Health Central next February in Hull city centre."

Citycare, which is behind Hull's Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) programme and has completed nine health and community buildings since 2004, is project managing the scheme.

NHS Hull did not want to disclose the amount of