A NEW doctors' surgery serving more than 8,000 patients in Malvern should be in use by the end of the year.

Work on the £3 million building, at the Enigma Business Park, will begin on February 21. It will house the services currently being provided at the surgery on Avenue Road.

Practice manager Pauline Smith said the existing facilities were cramped, with a small number of rooms restricting patient appointments.

The new 1,000 sq metre surgery, due to completed by November, will allow the number of appointments to be increased, as well as provide additional services such as coun- selling.

Mrs Smith said: "Overall, it will mean that facilities are a lot more comfortable and pleasant, both for staff and patients, and that we have a purpose-built environment in which to treat people."

The surgery will have space for seven GPs, district nurses, health visitors, health education and training facilities, as well as allowing the practice to carry out minor surgical procedures. There will be parking for around 60 cars.

The development will also include a nursery, run from a separate building by Kiddi Caru, which will have places for more than 100 children, aged three months to five years, and employ more than 30 staff.

Private company Prime, of Worcester, is funding the project and the practice will rent the building from it.

Managing director Leighton Chumbley said he was pleased the project was finally under way, after seven years of searching for a suitable site and getting funding and planning permission.

"The business park is an ideal location," said Mr Chumbley. "It's easily accessible and has excellent parking facilities."

Transport to the out-of-town surgery was one of the concerns raised by patients when the plans were first announced.

Mr Chumbley said Prime, the practice and South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust, were in discussions with local bus companies to re-introduce the bus service that ran past the site until last year.

Other ways of gettting patients without transport to the surgery are also being investigated.