D-Day for new South Lynn surgery
PLANS for a new £1/2 million medical centre in South Lynn return to the spotlight this week when health bosses will be asked to back a scheme aimed at tackling spiralling patient lists.
The building has been proposed on land near the Puny Drain, part of the Nar Ouse Regeneration Area (NORA), to provide welcome relief for Southgates Medical Centre, which is already beyond its 10,000 patient capacity.
The need for the new centre has been supported by the fact that work on the NORA project is now well under way, creating a potential population expansion of 5,000 patients in the South Lynn area over the next three to five years.
Plans for the new centre have been included among six urgent cases which will be considered by Norfolk Primary Care Trust board members tomorrow (Tuesday).
A report to board members by Noel McGivern and Dr Chris McKenzie, of Southgates Medical Centre, which has agreed to manage the new facility, states: "If South Lynn medical centre is not to be built, other healthcare facilities within the town will urgently be required to meet the continual growing demands of patients.
"Southgates is currently experiencing a very rapid rise in its patient list.
"Many of these patients come from villages just outside Lynn, including South Lynn itself, and we anticipate a significant rise in registered patients if we are successful in becoming the preferred provider for South Lynn."
An ideal completion date has been set for autumn 2010, to fall in line with plans for a new college, school and children's centre in the area.
It is hoped the practice will include a full range of core services, along with additional family planning and sexual health services and a weight-loss clinic.
The new interpreter facility for patients for whom English is not their first language which is available at Southgates will also be extended to South Lynn.
The centre will specifically target the South Lynn development area as well as a host of outlying villages including West Winch, Clenchwarton, Watlington and Tilney All Saints.
Plans for a new facility in Fairstead have also been included on the list of urgent cases but the development is described as "not as significant" as the one in South Lynn.
A report to board members states: "The current building is of poor quality and new residents are registering at other practices in town in preference to using their local practice, causing an imbalance in the patient population of Lynn."
Full plans and costings for the development have yet to be completed and it is believed the scheme will not come to fruition until late 2009/10 or early 2010/11.
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Weather for King's Lynn
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 10 C to 24 C
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Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
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