Plans to build a new £8m super-surgery for the Cardinal Practice in north west Ipswich have been abandoned after costs rose making it unaffordable. That means patients across Whitton, Whitehouse, and Claydon will have to continue using existing surgeries in Chesterfield Drive and Norwich Road. The practice had been due to move to a new super-surgery on the former Tooks site at the junction of Bury Road and Old Norwich Road next year.
The land is owned by Ipswich Borough Council would build and own the surgery, and rent the site to the practice. The proposed surgery was due to open this year or in early 2025 (Image: Ipswich Council) The details were agreed in 2019 - two years after the project was first unveiled - but the need for further NHS checks and then the outbreak of the Covid pandemic meant it wasn't until March 2022 that the final plans were unveiled . By then costs had increased and despite detailed plans being lodged with council planners, a final decision was never confirmed.
Now a statement from the borough and NHS has said: “The NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board and Ipswich Borough Council are deeply disappointed that the full relocation and new build plan at the Tooks site has now become unaffordable for the NHS, with costs having increased significantly over the past three years. “Despite this setback we remain determined to work in partnership to find an alternative, affordable solution that will deliver improved primary care faciliti.