A LATE bid has been lodged by health chiefs which could see a second ‘super surgery’ being constructed for thousands of patients in the north of Blackburn.

Health chiefs have confirmed a bid has been made to the NHS which could see a number of GP practices come under one roof.

MORE TOP STORIES:

Those locations which could be affected include the Umar, Little Harwood, Primrose Bank and Brookhouse health centres, and the Brownhill, Roe Lee and Shifa surgeries.

Dr Malcolm Ridgway, director of quality, performance and primary care for NHS Blackburn with Darwen’s clinical commissioning group (CCG), said: “This bid is part of our primary care strategy.

“Iit is important to note it is a tentative bid and as such until we know the outcome, we cannot determine any future progression or involvement.

“NHS England has not made clear when we will be notified to what extent our bid has been successful.

“But if we are successful in securing funding to develop our primary care services, then we will be engaging with our stakeholders and patients to help generate a sound business plan.”

CCG officials have confirmed that all seven surgeries, depending on future discussions, could be involved in the Blackburn North proposals.

The bid has been made to the health service’s Estates and Technology Transformation Fund (ETTF), which was thrown open to CCGs’ earlier this year.

Under the same programme, a further scheme has been drawn up for a similar super surgery to cover Blackburn West, and the Primary Care Access Centre at the Royal Blackburn Hospital.

No firm site has yet been identified for the Blackburn North super surgery and an overall cost figure has not been released.

But the Blackburn West bid, for three centres, amounted to £3million, of a prospective £4.8million budget. The wellbeing hub could be situated near Witton Park, subject to further discussions.

Peter Sellars, the CCG’s primary care lead, said in a board report: “The executive teams has reviewed the bid and the chairman of the primary care commissioning committee has agreed to support the scheme in principle.”

The project for Blackburn West will incorporate Witton Medical Centre, Redlam Surgery and Limefield Surgery, and cover 25,000 patients.