David Lepper

Labour Party | Brighton Pavilion

Welcome for £5.5million boost for GP surgeries

Government support worth £5.573m to refurbish and develop doctors’ surgeries in Sussex and Surrey has been welcomed by Brighton Pavilion Labour and Cooperative MP David Lepper.

GPs across England are to share a £108m 'improvement pot' to help refurbish and develop their surgeries under plans announced by health minister John Hutton.

This extra money is being made available to strategic health authorities along with the £1.19bn already being invested in primary care premises over the next two years. Thousands of GP surgeries are being built or refurbished thanks to this massive investment.

David Lepper says:

‘This extra money means that more GP premises in Brighton and Hove can be improved more quickly. It will help create a better environment in which millions of NHS patients can be treated. It will also make a big contribution towards making sure our family doctors and their staff enjoy better working conditions.’

The extra money is being allocated to designated lead primary care trusts (PCTs) who will work with local organisations to fund developments that have a real need and support from their community.

The money can be used locally in a number of different ways, including:

• Improvement grants for GP surgeries
  
• Extending schemes which create more space to accommodate trainee GPs and nurse practitioners in surgeries
  
• Capital for refurbishing GP premises owned by PCTs
  
• Buying up old GP leases or buying land to enable future development
  
• Bringing forward GP development and improvement schemes that would have been deferred until next year.