Patients from Park Road Medical Centre and Portugal Place Health Centre are invited to have their say on plans to replace their surgery premises with a state-of-the-art healthcare building in Wallsend.
More than 20,000 patients use the two surgeries but the current buildings are not in shape to provide the health services they would like to.
The new medical centre would be built on land next to The Forum Shopping Centre - fewer than 500 metres from both current sites.
The joining of the two medical practices will provide more flexible appointment times for patients, room for specialist services in the community and clinical training accommodation in an appealing, energy efficient building.
Kerry Burnett, GP from Park Road Place Medical Centre, said: “We are all excited about the concept for the new building, which will help us continue to provide the best possible care to our patients, which is of course our priority as a practice. Any feedback from our patients about the building designs would be greatly appreciated.”
The space would allow extended hours of GP care and increased training capacity for new staff, as well as allied community services run by Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust.
The new building will also provide opportunities for a variety of healthcare practitioners to work with the GPs to increase the range of services available to the community.
The plans include new clinical rooms – both consulting and treatment suites, light and airy spaces for patients, dedicated training areas, excellent access on foot, by public transport and by car and dedicated parking spaces.
Caroline Fawcett, GP from Portugal Place Health Centre, said: “The new premises will allow us to provide more services to those in our community and the updated layout will also improve the environment for staff and patients. We are delighted to be able to involve our patients in the consultation stage as well and we want to hear their views on the proposal.”
Patients using the practice SMS service will receive a text message with a link to www.assurawallsend.com which includes a survey where people can give feedback on the proposal.
Andrew Cooper, Senior Development Manager, said: “The consultation stage is an important one in any development as it gives both staff and residents a chance to share their views on the proposed location and design. With any new development we like to include the community as much as possible and look forward to hearing from everyone who will use the building.”
Printed information is also on display in the current practice buildings, for those patients who have been asked to attend in person at this time.
The project is estimated to take 15 months to complete and the current plans are to start the build in January and patients will be informed further of changeover dates by the practice upon completion of the new centre.