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A multi-million pound super GP surgery is set to open later this month, catering for 15,000 patients.
Contractors are putting the finishing touches to and installing equipment at the new Canterbury Medical Practice, which has been built at the Kent and Canterbury Hospital site and will offer 12 consulting rooms, three nurse rooms and an enhanced treatment room.
The surgery, which opens on Monday, February 22, will be the biggest of its kind in the city, replacing both the Cossington House and London Road surgeries, which were in converted Victorian houses.
They were deemed by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be outdated and “challenged” to deliver primary care services or cope with the predicted increase in patient numbers from proposed housing developments.
Construction work has been held up due to the coronavirus pandemic, delaying the opening date, which had been expected in December.
The new-build, which includes a 30-space car park, will be managed by the umbrella group, also named Canterbury Medical Practice, which runs centres on the outskirts of the city in Bridge and Littlebourne.
It will combine the workload of the soon-to-be-closed Cossington House and London Road surgeries.
It was also due to include a pharmacy but an application has been lodged to remove that element in favour of an additional consulting room.
All patients currently registered at the Cossington House and London Road surgeries are being informed of the move.
Bridge Health Centre and Littlebourne Surgery, which are branch surgeries of Canterbury Medical Practice, will remain in their current premises and are unaffected by the change.
Practice bosses say patients’ registration and records with the surgery will not be affected and the phone number, services and staff will remain the same.
Emma Ray, executive manager at Canterbury Medical Practice said: “Although we have a fondness for the beautiful surgery buildings at Cossington House and London Road, our new premises will make such a difference to our patients’ experiences.
“We’re looking at how we can use the space to its maximum potential and working with local stakeholders and other healthcare providers to make sure we can provide the excellent care in a first-class setting that our patients deserve.”
It is one of the UK’s first new-build GP premises projects to have received capital funding from NHS England’s Estates and Technology Transformation Fund.
