Maidstone council has outlined almost £5.5m in essential improvements needed in health provision in the region over the next decade.

The plans will be submitted as part of the authority’s Local Plan, a blueprint outlining sites for housing and commerce up until 2031, funded by developer contributions.

A total of 18,560 new homes is proposed.

After liaising with NHS Property Services, the council this week updated its infrastructure plans, with six further GP surgeries earmarked for expansion to cope with rising population.

They include Bower Mount Medical Centre in Bower Mount Road, The Vine Medical Centre in Tonbridge Road, Aylesford Medical Centre in Admiral Moore Drive, Grove Park Surgery in Sutton Road, New Grove Green Medical Centre, Boughton Lane Surgery and Yalding GP practice in Benover Road.

It brings the total number of surgeries designated for improvement to 24.

The most expensive of those are the plans envisaged for Staplehurst Medical Centre in Offens Drive, which has been allocated £847,000 for expansion.

Marden Medical Centre needs £378,000 to cope with new patients, while Headcorn Surgery in Grigg Lane comes in third priciest, with £370,000 expected to be needed to make it fit for purpose.

The Infrastructure Delivery Plan states: “The updated set of schemes builds on those previously identified, and reflects NHS requests for developer contributions sought through the development management process. Accordingly, significant financial contributions have already been secured towards delivery of many of these.

“Many of the existing GP surgery sites in these areas are constrained, and in some cases additional consulting space and patient facilities can only be provided through the internal reorganisation of existing space.

“At other surgeries extensions of varying scales are identified as a means to provide additional capacity to respond to the need generated by new residents.”

The plans were approved at a meeting of the Strategic Planning, Sustainability and Transportation Committee on Monday.

The Kent Messenger is calling for a flexible, accessible walk-in service to be provided in the borough in a bid to ease pressure on already-stretched GP surgeries and our A&E department.

One suggestion is to provide such a facility in doctors’ surgeries, which could be set up as part of the investment in GP services.

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