NHS Wiltshire says the last minute switch in sites for the proposed Devizes Primary Care Centre makes logical sense.

It says that most patients who visit GP practices are aged 65 and over so putting the centre within a newly-announced planned retirement village at Quakers Walk would be best all round for patients.

St Monica Trust, a charity in Bristol, owns the ten acre site in question at Quakers Walk and runs four retirement complexes in Bristol and North Somerset.

The proposed retirement village will include 100 units of extra care housing, a day centre, indoor swimming pool, gym, shops, pharmacy and an 83-bed nursing home.

Just a few months ago NHS Wiltshire and GPs said it was logical to build the Primary Care Centre next to the NHS Treatment Centre in Green Lane. The Treatment Centre, run by a private company, had agreed that patients using the Primary Care Centre could be sent there to have X-rays.

So if the Quakers Walk plan goes ahead patients face the prospect of travelling across town for X-rays. It had taken almost two years for NHS Wiltshire and the town’s GPs to commit to the Green Lane site and only eight weeks ago plans were on display. The developer of the Primary Care Centre at Green Lane, Matrix Medical, confirmed that it was no longer involved in the project.

Jeff James, chief executive of NHS Wiltshire, said no thought had been given to the future use of the NHS land at Green Lane and he would not speculate if it could be sold for housing.

He also reiterated that Devizes Hospital and Family Health Centre would remain open until the centre was built.

Devizes MP Michael Ancram said he was surprised at the late change of location for the Primary Care Centre.

He said: “I will want to see details to reassure myself that what they are proposing will provide the equivalent health provision that was envisaged for Green Lane and also confirmation that it will be going ahead quite a lot earlier than Green Lane would have done.”

A spokeswoman for St Monica Trust said: “We have been thinking about creating a development in Devizes for some time and we have been talking to GPs about working in partnership in the last couple of months.”

A new access road into the Quakers Walk site is being built off London Road but a spokesman for the St Monica Trust was unable to say if this would be the only access.

Speaking on behalf of the three GP practices in Devizes Dr Ian Williams, a partner at Southbroom Surgery, said: “Change is always unsettling and this isn’t a decision we have taken lightly but we are very glad that we and NHS Wiltshire remain fully committed to the development of a Primary Care Centre for Devizes.

“We firmly believe that the newly proposed location for the centre, which is closer to the middle of town, makes sense.”

A public exhibition will be held about the proposals for the Primary Care Centre and the retirement village at Devizes Town Hall on Friday December 4 between 3pm and 7pm.

Timeline

January 2007 – Wiltshire Primary Care Trust (now called NHS Wiltshire) agrees to develop a Primary Care Centre in Devizes to open in January 2009. The PCT favoured NHS land in Green Lane as the site but needed to get agreement from local GPs.

June 2008 - The three GP surgeries in Devizes agree to relocate to a Primary Care Centre. A public survey is carried out on three possible locations - Green Lane, Quakers Walk and Southgate House (the PCT’s headquarters in Pans Lane). Only 10.7 per cent of people wanted Quakers Walk.

September 2008 - The PCT decides on Green Lane after hearing that it was the GPs’ preference.

October 1 2009 - Plans for the Primary Care Centre at Green Lane are exhibited at Devizes Town Hall but the PCT said the project had been delayed after concerns by planners at Wiltshire Council to the design.

November 2 2009 - The privately-run NHS Treatment Centre opens in Green Lane. This is where minor operations are carried out on NHS patients.

November 26 2009 - NHS Wiltshire and the GPs now wish to build the Primary Care Centre as part of a retirement village planned by the charity St Monica Trust on land next to Quakers Walk. If a plans are approved the centre could open in late 2011.