Work to begin next week on Ludlow doctors' surgery
Work to expand a doctors' surgery will start next week, with building at another surgery in the same town already under way.
Both of Ludlow's GP practices, Portcullis Surgery and Station Drive Surgery, will be expanded and updated this spring, meaning they will be able to cope with an ever-growing number of patients.
Both surgeries have struggled with overcrowding in recent years and had hoped to move to new premises on Ludlow Business Eco Park as part of the town's ill-fated new hospital plan, which fell through in 2013.
Now long-awaited work at Portcullis Surgery will start next week, while at Station Drive it is already under way.
Dr Dorian Yarham, at Portcullis Surgery, said: "We don't have an exact starting date yet, but it should be next week.
"It's been a long haul to get to this stage, so obviously we're delighted now that it's actually happening. There is going to be some disruption while it is happening, but we'll try to keep that to a minimum, and do the extension in stages."
He said it meant there would be builders around, some areas would be cordoned off and there may be some noise, "but it shouldn't affect patients too much".
There was no fixed date for completion as yet, though the work was bound to take "a number of months", he said.
The expanded surgery will have four new rooms, including one for an extra GP, and is long overdue as space has been stretched to bursting point in recent years – as the practice has taken on nearly 3,000 more patients since about 1990.
As well as a new GP room, the extension will include a dedicated counselling room, a minor procedures room and a private office for patients to meet with the practice management team, as well as an improved waiting room with better disabled access and a separate children's area.
Meanwhile work at Station Drive Surgery across town started at the beginning of the month, with the car park currently shut for health and safety reasons as the builders go back and forth.
The new building there will provide three new consulting rooms, improved reception and waiting areas as well as better training facilities for medical students.
Katarina Nilsson, finance manger at Station Drive Surgery, said: "It's coming along well, they're building like mad and everything so far is going to plan.
"Like all building work you have problems, but we have solved them all so far."
The exterior of the building should be completed by the end of March, but the finishing touches to the inside may take a while longer. The extension will mean the practice can employ more GPs and increase the number of appointments available.
