Tewkesbury Health Care Project moving on
It is some months since the three Tewkesbury Practices launched the Tewkesbury Health Care Project in order to provide a much improved primary care service for our patients. Our aim has always been to build one new health care centre housing all three practices : The Church Street Practice, Watledge Surgery and Jesmond House Practice.
As many of you will be aware, we have looked at several sites and taken into consideration the views of our patients via Surveys, public meetings, letters and comments to this website. We anticipated that this would be a long and complex process due to the unique restrictions on the town in respect of potential flooding.
We are now in a position to take the next step with one of the sites originally ear-marked for possible development.
Tewkesbury Hospital Site
The Tewkesbury GPs are delighted that planning permission has been granted for a new Hospital to be built on land next to the existing building creating an opportunity for a health care centre alongside. The three Tewkesbury practices are therefore in discussion with the Primary Care Trust with a view to acquiring the land which will be available once the existing Hospital is no longer in use. This presents the people of Tewkesbury with the best possible combination of health delivery for the future – a state of the art Hospital able to provide a wide range of clinics and treatments and all three practices in bright, spacious premises with ample facilities to cater for our rapidly expanding town.
Benefits to Patients
Current conditions in all three practices are extremely cramped. This impacts our ability to offer additional health services at the surgery premises. For the first time in many years all three practices were unable to accommodate the annual Retinopathy Screening Service which had to be relocated to Marina Court. We are keen to ensure that patients have an opportunity to access a range of complementary services in a welcoming and familiar environment. A new health centre will provide space to make this possible.
We fully appreciate that transport is high on the list of patient requirements. We hope that the Hospital site will meet with approval with its position in Barton Road and the planned car parking for the new health centre.
What’s the timescale?
Building work on the new Hospital is due to begin this Spring and should be completed by mid-2013. Work on the new health centre will then commence and it is anticipated that the practices will be able to move in by late 2014.
Have your say
We hope that our patients will be as pleased as we are to have the opportunity to be part of this exciting new development for Tewkesbury. Once we have some more information we will update you with another Newsletter. In the meantime you are able to comment on this website, leave a message in the Suggestion Boxes in any of the surgeries or write to your own practice if you would like to have your say about the new health centre.
www.jesmondhousepractice.nhs.uk
We very much value your feedback and would like to thank you in advance for your interest.