Works for a new purpose-build GP practice that will be delivered by NHS Propery Services (PS) have begun last Friday (16 february), after local residents saw their former practice closed in 2015.
The £2.3m development will rise in Bow Fell, Brownsover after the Brownsover Medical Practice did not see its contract with NHS England renewed back in 2015.
Solihull-based contractor Greswolde Construction is in charge of the construction of the 624-square metre GP surgery, a 100-sqm community facility, and parking, which will be completed by the end of 2018.
Rugby Borough Council approved a planning application for the surgery back in June.
NHSPS is now receiving the land from the local authority as part of the project.
Principal construction manager for the West Midlands at NHS Property Services Paul Jones said: ‘This development will make a real difference to patient care and the local community in Brownsover and we’d like to thank our NHS, council and developer partners for their hard work in reaching this point.’
NHS Coventry and Rugby CCG is already looking for a bidder to deliver GP services from the building as soon as it is finished and ready to be accessed by the public.
Chief officer for Primary Care and Strategy for Coventry and Rugby CCG said Jenni Northcote said: ‘We are delighted to see the start of the construction work happening on site, which we appreciate has been long awaited by local residents.
‘This is an important milestone that reflects a mark of achievement for the local residents in Brownsover and for everyone else involved in making this happen.’
Local MP for Rugby Mark Pawsey said that the opening of the new surgery would have not been possible without the collaboration of the Brownsover Patients Action Group.
He said: ‘Brownsover residents have been incredibly patient since the closure of their previous local surgery in early 2015 and although it has taken longer than we all would have wanted for work to begin I am delighted to see things now progressing.
‘The Brownsover Patients Action Group led by Jake Stevenson, Mike McCarthy and Kamal Mehta, deserve an enormous amount of credit for all of the work that they have done to get us to this point and I will continue to work closely with them and the NHS to ensure that this project is delivered on time.’
Picture credit: NHSPS
