Plans submitted for Sidmouth medical centre expansion

Expansion plans that will enable significant improvements to healthcare provision across the Sid Valley to be carried out have been unveiled.

The Sid Valley Medical Centre in Sidmouth is looking to extend its main Beacon Medical Centre in Stowford as well as relocating some services from the satellite Blackmore Health Centre to Sidmouth Victoria Hospital.

Their plans for the Beacon Medical Centre site would replace the current Blackmore site which is 'unfit for purpose and not well suited for modern healthcare facilities', and would expand its range of services and offer a better environment in which to see patients.

The practice has secured national NHS England capital funding as part of the ETTF Programme to invest in the existing surgery to pick up expected patient growth to 2028, and the Beacon Medical Centre has been selected as a priority for Devon

A planning application for the extension to the Sedemuda Road facility has now been submitted to East Devon District Council, which would future-proof the building.

A statement with the application says: "The current building has been open for five years and has been successful in improving patient care across the town, however, with population increases and a largely elderly demographic, the practice is struggling to maintain a high level of service.

"The proposals are to increase the existing floor area across two floors to provide increased capacity and future-proof the scheme for years to come.

"The scheme represents a well-designed extension that will be entirely compatible with the character of the existing medical facilities at the site at the suburban residential character of the locality. The principle of this scheme is most laudable and will enable significant improvements to the health and wellbeing of the local community."

The practice have been exploring a number of options that would serve their 14,485 registered patients and provide a full range of primary care services, with additional consulting rooms, Minor Injury Unit, pharmacists, physiotherapist, training rooms, research space, operating theatres and space for administration needed to deliver these services.

GP and partner at the practice, Dr Joe Stych, had previously said: "We want to improve the service that we provide to our patients by extending our modern healthcare facility at Beacon that is better suited to meet their needs. We have been exploring options for a number of years and we're delighted that we may have found a solution.

"Our vision is to provide an attractive and pleasant environment for patients and staff. We have recently recruited more people to our team and we want to retain them, creating a stronger team for the future and ensuring patients continue to receive a high quality safe service.

"Our current premises in the town centre is no longer fit for purpose and this is a great opportunity for not just a better staff environment but a better service for our patients.

"We can do much more clinically and it will be a much smarter environment that can provide more joined-up health and care services that will benefit the local population.

"Like many parts of the country, recruiting new GPs and clinical staff can be a challenge, and working from a modern facility will enable us to recruit to vacancies more effectively, resulting in more available appointments and shorter waiting times."

At present, there isn't enough physical space in the current Beacon building to see an increasing number of patients and there is limited space available for office staff, but the expansion plans for a bigger building would result in additional space for more staff, which in turn will mean more available appointments and shorter waiting times.

East Devon District Council planners will determine the fate of the application at a later date.