TWO-WEEK waits for prescriptions and GPs struggling to serve thousands of people – this is the bleak picture patients have painted of Oxted Health Centre.
Yet the under-strain facility is being asked to take on hundreds more patients when a new housing development is built at Hurst Green.
The planning application for 172 new homes at Fairview Industrial Estate was given the go-ahead by Tandridge District Council in August last year.
Ashill Developments has agreed to stump up £50,000 for healthcare provisions in the area – but councillors have warned that is not enough and insist that a whole new GP surgery is needed.
A patient at the practice, who the Mirror agreed not to name, said: "Getting an appointment is already a massive effort. There are huge strains on the health centre and although it is not their fault, it can take weeks to get an appointment.
"It is always busy and this new development could cause huge problems for the elderly who rely on the health centre."
Each full-time doctor at the health centre, in Gresham Road, Oxted, is already serving a staggering 2,008 patients in the area. The NHS average is 1,600 per doctor.
Oxted parish councillor and patient Stuart Paterson said: "The waiting room is always busy and there is always a queue.
"You sometimes have to wait up to two weeks to get a prescription.
"Extra support staff and doctors are needed to deal with the increase in patients, otherwise we will have to wait even longer. There are big concerns with the more people who need to use Oxted Health Centre."
The practice deals with 2,000 appointments a week, from a total list of 16,700 patients.
When asked to give feedback to the development, doctors at the health centre estimated the local population could increase by 430 people.
They responded: "We at the health centre think that we would need to consider the establishment of a surgery in the Hurst Green area and, given the existence of Windmill Manor Nursing Home, to base in and around there and the new development site would be logical.
"From the housing and population numbers involved, a minimum requirement would be a facility to accommodate two doctors and a nurse. From our current practice's position, if we were to establish a second facility in Hurst Green the practice would probably opt to establish a bigger facility."
Tandridge district councillor Simon Ainsworth summed up the concerns: "The fear from residents is that Oxted Health Centre already appears to be at capacity and it is clear that further provisions are needed.
"At least £1.5 million is needed to build a new centre; the £50,000 does not go very far. For both patients who need to have regular appointments, and patients who need them one-off, it can already take a little while to get an appointment. We all know the need for housing has increased, but there really needs to be some kind of provision in Hurst Green."
NHS Surrey told the Mirror it was working with Ashill Developments to ensure any increase in the local population would not affect the quality of care patients receive from Oxted Health Centre.
The Holland Road development will comprise 109 new family houses with a mix of two, three and four bedrooms and 63 flats with a mix of one and two bedrooms.
