New super surgery could be one of the biggest in west Suffolk

The new Hardwicke House Surgery could be built on the former lorry park on Station Road and would see the merging of three practices -Hardwicke House, Meadow Lane and Cornard - into one central surgery.

The new surgery site, commissioned by the Hardwicke House would provide a mixture of 33 clinical spaces, training and education facilities, as well as an on-site pharmacy.

In the design and access statement prepared by DGA Architects those behind the project said that the "practice has been aware that their existing surgery buildings are not suitable for providing necessary services for our patients".

The existing buildings used by the surgeries were meant to be used for domestic use and with expanding numbers of patients, they say they are unable to expand in size on their current footprint to meet the modern need.

The new building would see the surgery become one of the largest in west Suffolk with 14 GPs serving over 27,000 patients.

A public consultation on the plans was held earlier this year but there remain concerns over the closure of the practices.

The design and access statement for the project notes that the closure of Cornard Surgery in particular is "a sensitive topic" and "is currently the subject of a patient engagement exercise which is running until the end of October".

So far there has only been one objection to the plans which raised concerns about the potential loss of access to the river walk.

Previous concerns about the project included traffic bottlenecks near the surgery and whether the project would help alleviate waiting times for patients.

The design and access statement for the project states that a number of new services could operate from the building "as there is sufficient spare capacity to accommodate these".

This could include AAA screening, phlebotomy, mental health and out of hours service.

A final decision on the plans will be made by Babergh District Council in due course.