GP surgeries could be relocated in Shrewsbury health and wellbeing hub plans

Health bosses say the new centre could open in autumn 2024 and would cater for a range of health services provided by the NHS, local council, and voluntary organisations under one roof, in a new state-of-the-art building.

Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group is calling for people to share their views about the proposals.

As part of the 'listening exercise', it has produced a document which shows there are eight GP practices in Shrewsbury likely to be affected by the project.

It says "some of the GP practices, or some of their services, would potentially move into the new building".

Health leaders say it will help GP practices which do not have enough space to expand to meet likely future demand on services.

The GP practices listed as being involved include The Beeches Medical Practice; Claremont Bank Surgery; Mytton Oak Surgery; Radbrook Green Surgery; Belvidere Medical Practice; Marden Medical Practice; Marysville Medical Practice and South Hermitage Surgery.

The document states: "The development of the health and wellbeing hub does not rely on all of these GP practices moving to the new facility and some may choose to use the facilities for certain services on certain days only.

"However, the primary care services provided by local GP practices are vital to the centre being a community health and wellbeing hub so some would need to move some GP services for this project to go ahead."

The new hub could also cater for x-rays, scans, midwives and outpatient clinics from the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, as well as a host of other services.

There is also the possibility of including a café and small retail units or market stalls in the new centre

The document says: "Input and involvement from the local community is incredibly important to us as we develop this exciting new facility so we can make sure that local health and wellbeing services meet the needs of our local population.

"We will review everything that local people and our partners tell us about what’s important to them when they access local health and wellbeing services and their initial ideas on a health and wellbeing hub – we will then use this to inform our plans for the new centre.

"We will talk to people again later in the year when we have developed our proposals further and we have a clearer idea of the possible location for the new health and wellbeing hub."

People can give feedback until September 26 by filling in a survey at surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ShrewsburyHealthandWellbeingHubListeningExercise

Those without internet access can request a telephone interview by calling 0121 611 0611.

It comes as figures have shown a rise in the average number of GP patients at practices in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.

NHS Digital figures show 514,523 patients were registered at the 54 GP practices in the county, as of the end of June.

Although numbers differ between practices, it meant each GP team was dealing with an average of 9,528 patients each – up slightly from 9,419 in June 2020.

Concerns have also been raised over access to GP practices in the county.