Plans for a new "super-surgery" to serve the north-west of Ipswich have been unveiled - as one of its existing locations prepares to close to patients.
The Cardinal Medical Practice, which currently runs surgeries in Norwich Road, Chesterfield Drive and Deben Road, is planning to move to a new building with 29 clinic rooms, 11 nurse rooms and a minor operating suite, on the former Tooks site at the junction of Bury Road and Old Norwich Road in 2024.
However the Deben Road surgery is to close to almost all clinical services on April 4 with patients sent to either Norwich Road or Chesterfield Drive. Deben Road will remain the administrative centre for the practice.
When the new building opens all clinical work will be carried out from there and Chesterfield Drive and Deben Road will be closed completely. The Norwich Road surgery will be an administrative centre and retain some triage services but patients will go to the new surgery.
The new surgery would be built for Suffolk Primary Care by a partnership between the NHS and Ipswich Council, which owns the land it will be built on.
A public consultation has been launched on the plans and people have until May 24 to comment on them by visiting a website set up to outline them and provide links showing what the new surgery will look like.
The Practice says the new building would allow it to expand as more people move into the area in the future.
James Cucchiarra, managing director, Suffolk Primary Care, said: “The three buildings where we currently provide services from are no longer fit for purpose and in need of upgrade.
“We want to find out from local people how this proposal would impact them and if they believe the site is suitable for their needs as well as to share more detail about our ideas.
“We believe the proposed location is well served by public transport and accessible to the communities we currently serve. It would also allow us to review the way we currently provide our services.
“If the plans do progress, it would mean more clinicians would be on site making it safer and there would be additional car parking available to our patients.”
The proposed site is about a mile from the Norwich Road Surgery - the furthest from it - but is nearer to the Whitton and Whitehouse estates and is not far from the Number 9 and 10 Ipswich Buses routes.
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