Canvey desperately needs two modern health centres to attract new doctors to the island, health chiefs have warned.

Liz McGranahan, a director at Castle Point Primary Care Trust (PCT), told a public meeting at the Paddocks, in Long Road, that 80 per cent of Canvey's 19 GPs are eligible for retirement in the next two years.

She said the two planned superclinics, one which would be built on the grounds of the Paddocks centre, and the other on a site yet to be identified on the west of the island, would help recruit new doctors.

She said: "Nationally recruiting GPs is a real problem and we're also up against it locally.

"If we were to build these new state-of-the-art centres we'd be better able to get new doctors.

"We also want premises which will allow us to have a teaching facility here.

"At the moment Canvey's existing surgeries are too small and not suitable to be extended."

If built, it is hoped the two new health centres would take the pressure off Southend Hospital and help create a more integrated healthcare system where doctors, district nurses, a pharmacy and blood testing would be under one roof.

Residents fears that the new centres would lead to an increase in council tax were allayed by Margaret Hathaway, of Castle Point Local Improvement Finance Trust.

She said: "The NHS will be working in partnership with the private sector to fund these buildings.

"It's not about privatising the health sector, but using the experience of the private sector to build the centres."

A final public consultation meeting on the new centres will take place at St Nicholas Church, in Long Road, Canvey, on July 20 at 7.30pm.