Local MP Alan Mak has visited Emsworth Medical Practice to mark the fifth anniversary of officially opening the new surgery building.
He cut the ribbon in autumn 2021 on the site of the redeveloped former Emsworth Victoria Cottage Hospital in North Street after working alongside the local community and the NHS for six years to deliver the £3.5m project.
Now he's returned to meet doctors and staff, hear about the extra services they’ve been able to provide because of the new building, and thank GP partner Dr Abu Chinwala and the rest of the team.
The old, cramped surgery in a Georgian house across the road was no longer big enough to offer the range of primary care services that doctors wanted to provide.
But today healthcare in Emsworth is delivered in a large, modern space with purpose-built facilities.
The move has enabled 2,700 more patients to have access to a GP and the recruitment of three additional GPs, an advance nurse practitioner, an extra healthcare assistant, a phlebotomist and a specialist diabetes nurse.
There's room for a mental health practitioner, a physio, a pharmacy team and social prescribers. There's also a pod in the waiting area where people can measure their own blood pressure.
Meanwhile much larger Covid, flu and RSV clinics can be accommodated.
The former hospital building, which was decommissioned and closed down in 2013, was seen as an ideal surgery site.
Mr Mak began campaigning alongside local community and healthcare partners to deliver a new surgery building after he was first elected in 2015.
He intervened to stop the sale of the building in 2018 by NHS Property Services and then worked closely with GP partners, the NHS and others to secure funding, steer the project and deliver the new surgery.
This included meeting the Health Secretary and Health Ministers in Westminster and successfully lobbying over a number of years for £3.5m of Government funding via NHS England, plus chairing regular local meetings in Emsworth to progress the surgery.
Mr Mak also successfully secured an agreement to extend the deadline for NHS funds to be used when this was needed to keep the project alive.
He said: "It was great to visit the Emsworth Medical Practice again to mark the 5th anniversary, see how it's operating and thank the team for the great job they're doing.
"It's a fantastic asset for the local community and I look forward to the practice continuing to provide a high standard of healthcare for many years to come."
