CONCERNS have been raised about car parking and accessibility issues as almost 20,000 patients in Barrow prepare to step through the doors of their new health centre.

The Alfred Barrow Health Centre is set to open in the next couple of months although a final completion date has not yet been confirmed.

Once complete, the new surgery will deal with a total of 18,264 patients from the three practices - Abbey Road Surgery, Atkinson Health Centre and Risedale Surgery.

Feedback from the consultation process reveals some of those patients set to move to the new surgery had concerns about accessibility, particularly for elderly people, and car parking issues.

Patients expressed concerns about having to cross the road from the car park to the surgery.

The consultation found some were confused as to whether the surgeries were merging, but although they will be based within the same building, they ill continue to operate autonomously.

The Alfred Barrow Health Centre Project Board has made a series of recommendations based on the feedback.

These include giving consideration to patient and staff car parking arrangements and whether patient car parking spaces could be allocated closer to the building.

Health bosses will also look at the number of disabled spaces set to be included.

As well as bringing together the primary and community health services provided by the three GP surgeries listed above, the new health centre will also include services by Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust and University Hospitals Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and house facilities for the North West Ambulance Service and BAE Systems.

Dr Ashish Kshetrapal, GP from Atkinson Health Centre in Barrow, said: “We are very much looking forward to our move into the new Alfred Barrow building.

“It has been a long process, but it will be great to have so many services all collaborating in one place and will hopefully make access much easier for the patients of the surgery.”