A new stopgap surgery to serve the Carse of Gowrie will be unveiled imminently, with final checks currently being carried out.
With Errol’s surgery at capacity and the satellite St Madoes practice – little more than a shipping container – condemned by healthcare bosses, the decision to provide the villages on the A90 ribbon with an upgraded solution was finalised nearly two years ago.
A letter written by Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership was posted on the noticeboard at St Madoes’ surgery in September 2017 announcing it was to close. Patients were told the makeshift surgery did not national standards for infection control.
It was also stated planning was under way for a purpose-built surgery in Errol, four miles away.
Patients were forced out of the main Errol practice and back into the St Madoes surgery in 2018, sparking a rush to build somewhere fit for purpose.
Blueprints sent to council planners in April 2018, outlining a modular building near Errol Airfield, were met with a wave of local support.
The much-needed premises are nearly complete, as Perth and Kinross Health and Social Care Partnership’s IJB chief officer Gordon Paterson revealed to local MSP John Swinney.
In a letter to the Deputy First Minister, Mr Paterson said: “Following discussion with NHS Tayside Estates Department, there is now only one outstanding issue preventing the application for completion of works of the premises in Errol.
“The outstanding issue relates to the requirement to have updated legionella risk assessment/water compliance. My officers are pushing hard for the issue to be completed as a matter of urgency between the landlord and NHS Tayside Estates Department.
“I am assured that once the certificate of completion of works is applied for, arrangements will be put in place to confirm a date with the practice to commence services from the premises.”
The construction has been heralded by Mr Swinney, who said: “I am pleased to hear that progress is being made towards the opening of Errol Medical Centre.
“The entire process of securing a new medical practice has taken too long, and has been a source of deep frustration for people living in Errol and the surrounding areas.
“To that end, I will continue to engage with stakeholders to ensure that the medical practice opens as soon as reasonably possible.”
