Construction could start on new GP surgery in 2025

Construction is still yet to start on the new GP surgery

Construction of a new GP surgery may start in 2025, more than 15 years after it was first promised.

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and West Berkshire Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) said planning permission for the new surgery in Great Western Park, Oxfordshire, would be sought in autumn 2024 and, if approved, building work could start by the end of 2025.

It follows years of delays as pressure on other local GP surgeries increased.

Local MP Olly Glover said there was "still a long way to go", but the announcement represented "real progress".

The new surgery would be run as a branch surgery by Woodlands Medical Centre in Didcot.

Provision for it was included in plans for the housing estate, which was first given planning permission in 2008.

In 2022, a local councillor said trying to get the surgery built was "like banging your head against a brick wall", while GP Dr Rachel Ward said her surgery was "bursting at the seams" trying to provide services for the 3,500 people living on the estate.

The surgery would be a branch of Woodlands Medical Centre

BOB ICB blamed the "historic" delays on the fact multiple agencies - including NHS England and Vale of White Horse District Council - were involved, as well as legal complexities and economic challenges.

The board warned the complexities had not gone away and "may cause further slippage of the desired timeline".

But Oxfordshire County Councillor Ian Snowdon accused them of "already making an excuse for a further delay".

"I've been burnt so many times with false promises, false updates," he said.

"Until I see a spade in the ground and a patient walking through the door, I'm afraid I don't believe it."

The BBC has approached BOB ICB for further comment.