Health centres in Suffolk could see extra an £1.5m expansion to meet rising demand created by new housing. East Suffolk’s cabinet members are due to meet next Tuesday to discuss the allocation of Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) funding — developer contributions paid to councils for investment in local services.
Among the CIL bids are three projects for the expansion of health centres in Felixstowe and Halesworth amounting to nearly £1.5 million. In Felixstowe, this includes the expansion of Haven Health Medical Centre, in Grange Farm Avenue, and the refurbishment of Grove Medical Centre, in Grove Road.
The Haven Health expansion, for which the council would contribute £633,569, would help meet growing demand in the area due to new housing, with plans for an improved primary care centre and five new clinical rooms. The bid states the changes will ensure compliance and create up to 60 additional appointments per 1000 patients, per week, as well as increased teaching and education capacity for GP registrars and medical students. The Grove Medical Centre refurbishment, on the other hand, would convert four rooms, currently occupied by the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) and the county council, into clinical accommodation to absorb demand pressures on service delivery.
The project also includes plans for a large office upstairs to be divided with a sliding partition wall and turned into a clinical room at one end and a telephone consultation and office a.