11:00am Thursday 11th March 2010
By Gareth Palmer
RESIDENTS are demanding better medical facilities to serve their fast-growing neighbourhood.
Until 2003, there was a GP surgery at Hythe Community Centre, in Ventura Drive, Colchester.
After standing empty for six years, the surgery space has now been absorbed into the community centre.
The move has prompted Hythe Community Centre Association to renew its campaign for a clinic to treat the people who have moved into hundreds of new flats, built in the area in recent years.
Trustee Anita Cleary said: “We’ve now taken down the word, ‘health’ from our sign, so people don’t keep coming in and asking ‘where’s the doctor?’ “But it’s still a question which needs answering.
“This is a rapidly-growing area and it needs a surgery. The nearest practices are the Hawthorn Surgery in Greenstead and in Wimpole Road, both quite a distance away and both oversubscribed.”
Mrs Cleary said the community centre’s history highlighted a common problem with new housing developments .
She explained: “It seems houses are being built all over Colchester and the necessary infrastructure, such as doctors’ surgeries, is not being built alongside.
“This is an example of where something was built, but it wasn’t thought through properly. so it wasn’t used as it should have been.”
The original surgery at the centre closed after Dr Tony Chyc was suspended, as a result of patients’ complaints. He was subsequently struck off in 2006.
Sam Hepplewhite, from NHS North East Essex, said issues connected with the space available at the community centre and patient confidentiality had prevented it being used to house another GP surgery after Dr Chyc left.
He added: “We have no immediate plans to introduce GP services at the Hythe, as we feel the area is currently well served by the Greenstead and Wimpole Road surgeries. “However, we regularly review capacity issues as situations do change.”
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