PLANS for a top rated Southminster surgery to move to a new location have been put on hold.

William Fisher Medical Centre, in High Street, had been looking at a potential move to a new site.

The plans were discussed at a meeting of the Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group’s board panel last week.

The group heard work on the plan had been put on hold for the time being while further discussions took place.

More information is being sought on the future of the practice, and the service configuration, before any further planning is done.

Practice manager Dr Debbie Morley said it was one of a number of ideas the surgery was looking at.

She said: “We have been looking at moving to a new centre, but that has been put on hold for the moment for various reasons. We are looking to recruit more doctors to the surgery after we had a GP retire.

“That is something that I know a lot of surgeries in the area are doing “We are also looking at ways we can work with other surgeries and how we can share ideas and work together, but that collaboration is a general aim in the area.”

A spokesman for Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, added: “We are firmly committed to help out GP practices become more sustainable.

“As part of that work we are updating our estates plan to assist us in reviewing proposals from practices about their premises.

“William Fisher Medical Centre has been talking to us about a number of ways it could improve its capacity, but there are no firm plans.”

In July last year, the William Fisher Medical Centre was rated as the best in Mid Essex according to patients.

The practice has more than 6,000 patients and two GPs. A total of 98 per cent of their patients said their experience was good while 100 per cent said they had confidence in their GP.