A NEW health centre planned for Worcester city centre has widespread support according to a survey by our MP.

The postal survey by Mike Foster shows that seven out of 10 people in the city support plans for a new GP-led centre in the heart of Worcester.

The Worcestershire Local Medical Committee, which represents 480 county docotrs, has said the new centre will undermine traditional general practice in the city and take patients away from existing surgeries.

The postal survey asked 541 people what they thought of plans to create the new centre which would be open 8am to 8pm, seven days a week, and is scheduled to open by March next year.

A total of 364 replied “yes” for investment in the centre (67 per cent) and 85 (16 per cent) “no”.

Mr Foster said: “These findings suggest overwhelming levels of support for the new health centre, and the creation of flexible GP provision for all, whenever it is needed. I’m afraid to say the Tory Party and the Local Medical Committee have misjudged the public mood on this. Local people want to access GP services at a time to suit them, whilst still keeping the continuity of care with their existing GP."

GPs have also complained about Government plans to extend their opening hours at weekends and evenings.

But the survey showed that 464 people backed an extension of GP opening hours (86 per cent).

Doctors in Worcestershire have said they are not against opening more hours but that more funding is needed.

According to the results of a separate survey undertaken by the Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, six out of ten respondents from Worcester said they would use the new service, with a third of replies from those living in Wychavon and Malvern Hills also saying they would use it too.

Maggie Keeble, a GP at Berwyn House in Barbourne, Worcester, said she did not believe patients would support the centre if they new the impact it would have on the city’s existing surgeries.

She said: “If patients were asked if they would they like a new GP led centre or whether they would rather the money was spent on their own GP services I suspect Mr Foster would have got a different response.”

No-one was available to comment from the Worcestershire Local Medical Committee