Felixstowe and Halesworth GP surgeries given funds to expand

Haven Health in Grange Farm Avenue and Grove Medical Centre in Felixstowe and Cutlers Hill Surgery in Halesworth were selected by East Suffolk Council to receive funding from developer contributions to local services.

Grove Medical Centre will received more than £61,500 to convert four rooms into clinical accommodation, as well as turning the large upstairs office into a clinical room and telephone consultation area.

Cutlers Hill Surgery will receive £777,903 to cover the costs of its expansion which will include improved welfare facilities, four new consultation rooms, a healthcare assistant room and improved patient access. 

The council gave Suffolk Primary Care £630,000 towards two extensions and reconfiguring the existing space at Haven Health in Grange Farm Avenue.

The building works are expected to take around seven months to complete but existing patients will still be able to access services during construction.

Dr Paul Driscoll, a GP partner with Suffolk Primary Care, said: “We are delighted that East Suffolk Council has approved our bid for CIL funding so that this important extension can take place. It will give us a valuable opportunity to reconfigure the building so that it works more effectively for our patients. The extra space will also mean we can host additional services.

“Importantly, it will also ensure we can continue to meet demand in the future and offer high quality, accessible services to our patients as the population of Felixstowe increases.”

The hope is that five additional consulting rooms will be created and the surgery will be better equipped to meet the demand and pressure growing on the NHS and the surgery. Currently, there are twelve consulting rooms.

Up to 60 new appointments per 1,000 patients could be available per week under the project and will allow for resources and delivery of more services in the community.

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Kay Yule, East Suffolk Council cabinet member for planning and coastal management (Image: East Suffolk Council) Councillor Kay Yule, East Suffolk Council cabinet member for planning and coastal management, said: “We want to ensure that the right infrastructure is put in the right place at the right time. So, it is pleasing to see the reinvestment of money levied on developers building nearby homes back into the community to support the expansion of local GP practices to help meet increased demand.

“These projects directly relate to two of our strategic plan objectives as a local authority; to maximise health and wellbeing in our communities and to support and deliver infrastructure for the economy.”