Plans for a new Alderley Edge Medical Centre were revealed at a public exhibition yesterday.
GP's have been trying to provide a new premises for the surgery for the past four years. They have been met with several obstacles along the way but are now in a position to submit a planning application.
Plans were available to view at the festival hall on Thursday, 26th January, where the new medical centre could be sited. Local doctors and parish councillors were on hand to answer questions.
The intention is for the medical centre to be located at the front of the building, with a new side entrance providing access to the community hall.
The new medical centre would bring the front of the building closer to the road than it currently is and extend the width of it, whilst the height would be marginally increased.
Plans for the ground floor include five consulting rooms, a meeting room, interview room, reception, waiting area, lift, WC with baby changing facilities and a pharmacy, which I understand will be occupied by Cedrics.
On the first floor there will be two treatment rooms, three more consulting rooms, a District Nurse office, medical store, recovery room, sub waiting room, staff room, Practice Manager room, office, finance office, utility, record store, comms rooms and WC's. The second floor will provide space for let, probably to health related businesses.
Dr Edwin Thompson told me "Feedback today has been very positive. I think everyone I have spoken to is a patient of ours and can see what we're working with at the moment and what we could be working with."
The future of the George Street practice could be at risk because of its lack of access for disabled and elderly patients. An inspection by the Care Quality Commission is due in April 2013 and the GP's feel that the current premises could be a problem.
Dr Thompson added "The main benefit for patients is access to all facilities as the lift will provide access to all floors. Macclesfield Hospital is looking to come into the community with their services and they cannot do this with the current facilities.
"For the doctors it will provide modern facilities and more space which we are very short of now. Being a training practice we will also have more space for training and be able to attract the best trainees."
Whilst I was at the public consultation there was a steady stream of visitors who were all given comment forms to complete. These were collected by Nicola Kent, Primary Care Projects Manager at Central & Eastern Cheshire PCT, will be typed up and submitted with the planning application.
Nicola told me "We are going to go through all the comments and incorporate what we can before we submit the plans so we can suit as many people as possible."
The GP's are hoping to submit a planning application in the second week of February and be in a position to commence building works in June, after the Alderley Festival has taken place.
Dr Thompson added "The work really needs to be completed before the next Alderley Festival so we are looking at a nine month build."
I spoke with several local residents who attended the consultation and the response to the plans was generally very positive.
Allan Brown, of Trafford Road, commented "The plans are first class, very professional - just as I would expect from the medical profession."
However, a few people who I spoke with were not inspired by the design of the building, which Dr Thompson told me had been through many incarnations and "originally looked like a row of houses, to fit in with the street, but the Parish Council requested that it look like a public building".
Melinda Lowe, of Heyes Lane, said "I think it's an opportunity to build something of the 21st century and the plans show no imagination. They should knock this down and build something new and modern which can win architect's awards."
Explaining about the financing, Dr Thompson told me "The way it works nowadays is doctors rent the premises and the PCT (Primary Care Trust) reimburse the rent. Shortly after the project was approved by the PCT in October 2010 all increased expenditure on premises was suspended so they will only pay the existing rent for the George Street surgery.
"As a result we have scaled down and taken all the surplus rooms out to make it as lean as we can. We have the rent we had received so far from George Street, plus the extra rent from the pharmacy and office space (on the second floor) which provides space for us to expand into in the future.
"This still leaves us with a shortfall of £500,000 but we are making a formal application for an Improvement Grant from the regional health authority in March. We should receive a decision in May."
Whilst at the consultation a couple of parish councillors commented that a key benefit of the project is that the development of a new medical centre would be at no cost to local residents.
Emerson has agreed to carry out the building work, in return they will receive the rents for an unspecified amount of years until the costs are recovered. After that period the rent will be paid to the Parish Council who own the building.
Dr Thompson told me "The doctors don't want to borrow the money and the Parish Council don't want to borrow it. Emerson are funding the build and will rent the space to us, but once the loan is paid off it will revert to the Parish Council. Without the Parish Council we couldn't do this, we couldn't afford it and in the long term it provides an asset for the Parish Council and the village.
"This is the best way to protect the long-term future of a medical practice in the village because it will be in the hands of the Parish Council, in other parts of the country medical centres have been built by developers and then sold on as an asset."
Speaking about the rest of the Festival Hall, Cllr Frank Keegan told me "We want to see this go through planning and then work out what we can afford to do with the rest of the hall. Our priorities though will be to build a new side entrance and toilets fairly quickly."
Above are some photos taken of the public exhibition. Once the planning application is submitted we will let you know and more detailed plans will be available to view, with dimensions.
If you attended yesterday's public consultation, or have an opinion on the information provided, please do share your views on the planning application via the comment box below.
Alternatively, the doctors would be happy to accept your comments, both positive and negative, in writing. These can be sent to Dr Thompson, 16 George Street, Alderley Edge, SK9 7EP.
Photo: Dr Edwin Thompson and Dr Helen Hall, click next photo, or play the slideshow, to see images of what the proposed new medical centre will look like.
