A GP surgery is set to nearly double in size to cope with an expected influx of 15,000 people to the local area –just shy of the entire population of the Orkney Islands or 200 full double-decker buses.
The expansion of the Princess Street Group Practice at the Elephant will go from having 11,600 people on their books to more than 19,000 if council plans go-ahead.
Almost £150,000 pledged by the developers behind the nine-storey Printworks at the corner of Amelia Street and Robert Dashwood Way is due to be released at a council meeting at the end of the month to contribute to the plans.
A council document says the money, set aside to develop health services in the area, is needed because the redevelopment of the Heygate and Aylesbury Estates will “generate an increase in population of circa 15,000.”
The proposed expansion of the Aylesbury Health Centre in Thurlow Street will enable it to also take on an additional 7,000 patients
The proposals call for the well-located Princess Street practice to provide a wider range of services “on a site nearby” which would need to be significantly bigger than the current surgery.
Southwark Council is currently working with the borough’s Clinical Commissioning Group to secure a 3,000square metre site within the “immediate vicinity” of the existing practice. The range of services which would be on offer at the new clinic will be agreed following a public consultation.
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