The planning application for a new Primary Care Development in Westbury has been approved by Wiltshire Council.
The development, which will be located at Leigh Park, will include an extended modern GP surgery which combines the Eastleigh Surgery and the White Horse Surgery with a range of other health care services, all under one roof. The planning permission was granted last week, and it is hoped that the new primary care development will open in 2012.
Planning officers at Wiltshire Council granted the permission, stating that the primary care centre “would provide a facility of overriding benefit to Westbury Town as well as the wider community.”
Bill Fanning, chairman of the Westbury Patients Forum said, “This is great news for people in Westbury and the surrounding area. The development is a modern, purpose-built centre with the space and health facilities to serve the town properly. Initially there were a few concerns about transport, and we have worked hard to resolve the details with Wiltshire Council and colleagues from voluntary services. We’re delighted that we can now proceed.”
Plans for its development have evolved through the work of a steering group with members drawn from the Westbury Group Practice, Patients’ Forum, League of Friends, Westbury Town Council and NHS Wiltshire.
Dr Debbie Beale, a GP at Eastleigh Surgery said, “This is an exciting time for Eastleigh Surgery, its patients and its staff. The approval endorses all the hard work and commitment from everyone involved in our project. The new development will give us the space to look after our patients in modern purpose-built rooms, ensuring that we can continue to deliver high-quality GP care with privacy and dignity, and being located alongside the other health facilities on the site will ensure patients receive care which is a smooth and seamless as possible”.
The Primary Care Development will accommodate all the services that are currently provided from Eastleigh and White Horse Surgery, and in addition to this there will be a number of new services available that Westbury people currently have to travel to other towns to access. The services available will be:
• 8 GPs from the existing surgeries (so people will continue to see their family doctor), plus a GP in training
• Nurse Practitioners, who are able to see, treat and prescribe for patients
• Nurses, providing a wide range of services from Family Planning to Asthma care
• Consultant outpatient clinics
• A minor surgery suite, which will be used by staff and visiting Secondary Care consultants
• The Westbury and Warminster Neighbourhood Teams (who provide community healthcare to patients in their own homes)
• A mobile diagnostics centre, for screening services and diagnostic tests. Community midwives, providing antenatal and postnatal care
• Health visitors
• Outpatient X-ray facilities for patients under the care of specialists at Salisbury District Hospital
• A stand-by point for the Ambulance Service
• A dental surgery, which will extend to three dentists on site, providing NHS and private dental services
• Primary care counselling services and lifestyle management services, including diet, exercise advice and smoking cessation support
• The practice is in negotiation with a Pharmacy Provider
The building will be approximately 2,635 square metres in floor area, compared to the existing Eastleigh Surgery which is about 740 square metres and the White Horse Surgery that occupies about 90 square metres.
Dr Beale said, “We hope that the Primary Care development will be open in 2012 but until then, all the existing services will remain as they are until we are ready to move into the new building”.
