Work starts on new £1m surgery in Shropshire village
Almost £1 million will be invested in a new medical practice in Shropshire which is set to open next year.
The practice in Prees, near Whitchurch, will replace that at the home of Dr Guy Carter who retired last year.
Work has started on the practice and is due to be completed in January.
The Grocott Family Charitable Trust, set-up by the owners of Whitchurch-based Grocontinental, is to fund the construction of the building.
Trustees Ray, Rose, David and Linda Grocott are investing in the practice.
Following the recent retirement of Dr Carter, residents were facing the possibility of travelling to surgeries in either Wem or Whitchurch.
Run by Wem and Prees Medical Practice, the surgery will be located in Shrewsbury Street. It will include four GP consultation rooms, a nurse consultation room, treatment rooms, a dispensary, patients' waiting space, offices and ancillary rooms.
The trust will lease the building to the practice at a nominal rent for the next 15 years.
Ray Grocott said: "As a family, Prees is very close to all our hearts and we care very much about the people who live here, making sure that they have access to the very best facilities and that the village has a strong and sustainable future.
"Rose, David, Linda and I were very concerned that the future of the surgery in Prees was hanging in the balance.
"We are fortunate to be in a position to be able to step in and help change the situation, and we are thrilled and very proud to see our vision now becoming a reality.
"The start of the construction works by Castlemead Group marks the end of some painstaking preparatory work with Jim Bartlett and his team at Wem and Prees Medical Practice and the start of a new era for medical care in the village."
Dr Jim Bartlett, of Wem and Prees Medical Practice, said: "This has to be the ultimate philanthropic gesture.
"The Grocott family has basically saved the day, by not only securing the future of medical care in the Prees, but by delivering way beyond anyone's expectations.
"The village will now have a state-of-the art medical centre with the very best facilities."
