Staffordshire surgery to undergo £1 million expansion

Mansion House Surgery in Stone want to build an additional treatment room and seven more clinical consulting rooms to help meet the demand.

The Abbey Street practice has been granted primary care infrastructure funding from NHS England, which will fund 60 per cent of the project.

There are currently 13,500 patients registered at the surgery.

But the numbers could rise with plans by Stafford Borough Council to build more than 1,000 homes in the area.

Carol Rodgers, practice manager, said: "We're absolutely desperate for space at the surgery.

"Its a struggle at the moment, we are having to squeeze doctors into different rooms and run clinics with nurses and doctors.

"It has been a constant juggling act and we barely have enough space to meet the current demand.

"This proposal will help future-proof the surgery and give us much more workable space.

"This grant would allow us to meet existing and future demands and to provide the additional services the Clinical Commissioning Group would like us to provide."

The plans are now being finalised before they are submitted to Stafford Borough Council – which will also be reviewed by NHS England.

Stafford Borough councillor Joyce Farnham, who represents the St Michael's and Stonefield ward, said: "I think this is a very good idea, I openly welcome it.

"The population in Stone is only going to grow, so to have a larger practice is vital for the area.

"The demand for treatment is going up now, especially with the housing plans, and the expansion would mean the practice would be able to meet that demand.

"I'm all in favour of Mansion House Surgery's plans, nobody should say anything different really in my opinion.

"The sooner that this happens, the better."

Stone town councillor Phillip Jones helped the surgery secure its bid for the funding by writing in support of their application.

He added: "I supported it because there is an above average elderly population in Stone, which imposes extra duty on surgeries because these people need GP care.

"It's the above-average elderly population which is causing the demand, not the new housing plans. Rather than admitting an elderly person to hospital, where it costs £2,500 a week to keep them, we need to have the right level of GP care in place. GP surgeries are key, we need to keep the pressure off hospitals and not add to their A&E waiting times, so I was more than willing to support this project."