26 August 2008
Building work on the new £8.3m Central Canvey Primary Care Centre, set to transform primary care for the people of Canvey Island, is nearing completion.
The scheme, which will bring together five GP practices in high quality facilities along with a wide range of additional community health services, has been quickly taking shape and is attracting a great deal of interest from local people.
Carpenters and electricians are currently on site fitting doors and wiring the lights while the decorators apply the first coats of paint as the finishing touches are put into place.
Amir Abed of Galliford Try is very pleased with the way the project has gone so far. "We have made a lot of progress in the last few months, we are on programme and we are nearly finished," he said.
"Now that the scaffold is down you can see the external render and cladding and it's raising a lot of interest from the local people. We are extremely happy with the way that the building is starting to look and know that the people of Canvey Island will be very happy with their new health centre."
Margaret Hathaway, project director for South East Essex PCT, who recently attended the local Castle Point Borough show which featured an information stand detailing the benefits of the new facility, explained how busy she was kept by members of the public who were interested in finding out more.
"What really struck me was how positive and excited people were, especially now the main structure of the development is up and they can see what the building will look like," she said.
"The main comment seemed to be that people in the area were delighted to see the NHS investing real money in the local community. It was reassuring for us to meet local people face-to-face and find they are so supportive of these new centres."
When completed, the Central Canvey Primary Care Centre will offer additional services such as speech and language services, community nursing services, children’s services, a minor operations suite and community pharmacy.
It will mark the first project of up to 11 new health centres to be built across the region.
ENDS
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