Health centre plans in doubt

Plans to create a health centre on the ground floor of Cannock Hospital are in doubt.

Doctors in the town have told South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust they do not want to move into the hospital.

Bosses at the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust are carrying out a £1.4 million re-organisation of the building, moving wards and services upstairs.

And while the trust says no official decision has yet been taken, a report to Cannock Chase councillors suggests the plan will be dropped and an alternative scheme considered.

Building a health centre in Cannock to provide modern facilities for five GPs has been a three-year dream.

Last year the hospital issued a public invite to the PCT to move into the hospital but there has never been an official response.

The PCT pulled out of a plan to build the centre on land off Cardinal Way after widespread objections in September last year.

Now the PCT is believed to be actively seeking other sites in Cannock and the board will be recommended not to go ahead with the hospital option.

Cannock Chase councillors have been told by the PCT's local director Geraint Griffiths that the hospital plan has been dropped.

Minutes from a meeting of the district council's health select committee seen by the Express & Star said: "Mr Griffiths stated that the health centre development would not be located in Cannock Hospital.

"He reported that the PCT were considering an alternative site."

But Alex Fox, chairman of the PCT, said today no official decision had been made on the health centre.

He said: "We have got to find the right place. It has to be right, we can't go at this at a hundred miles an hour, we want to get everyone on board. The PCT board has yet to discuss any recommendations."