PATIENTS of the new £1.5 million Lifeboat Quay Medical Centre, which could one day cater for up to 13,000 residents, have been told the new project is on target for completion this summer.

Scores of people popped along to The Spire, High Street, Poole, on Thursday (May 23), to learn about the latest plans for the new surgery and speak to members of the team behind the project.

Earlier this year work started on the new medical centre, which will open at the Lifeboat Quay Building, off Holes Bay.

When it opens the medical centre will initially become the new home for staff and the 6,000 patients of Carlisle House Surgery, Lagland Street, Poole.

As well as updates on the build, those attending the drop-in session were able to find out more about getting involved in their local patient participation group.

Carlisle House practice manager Jill Tobin said: "The construction is going really well and we are on schedule to complete by the summer, and we are looking at an opening date in early August.

"We are just over 6,000 patients, but we are building capacity to be able to expand because Poole is growing and we have a lot of residential development locally – and all of those people will need a GP.

"Ultimately we will be able to accommodate 12,000 or 13,000, but that is not going to happen overnight.

"We've been trying to communicate with patients, but it was really important to invite patients along to see what was happening.

"Lifeboat Quay Medical Centre will give us the ability to provide high quality primary care services for the rapidly increasing local population."

Jill said the move to the new centre will be seamless for patients.

"The only thing that is changing is the location – the doctors and staff are the same, the phone number is the same."

The development opposite Asda is currently occupied by Travelodge hotel, as well as Subway and Costa Coffee.

Eventually the new surgery will include up to 84 parking spaces, with allocated spaces for disabled patients.

There is also a bus stop just 100 metres away for patients using public transport.

Greendale construction director Chris Kane, whose company is constructing the new surgery, was also on hand to meet patients.

"We do a lot of work with the NHS and a lot of work in Poole," he said. "A lady I have just met, who is 85, just told me she's been going to Carlisle House since she was four-years-old.

"And her GP used to live above the surgery."

The new surgery is expected to offer treatments and services encompassing the latest technology.

In the meantime, services will continue as normal from Carlisle House Surgery.

Sandra Lewis, chairman of the Carlisle House Surgery Patient Information Group, believes the new medical centre will make a huge difference for patients.

She said: "There is also the facility of the Asda pharmacy, which is open for extended hours."

Patient Edyth Morgan, who is also member of the surgery's patient information group, said: "I think treatment is going to be more flowing, because there will be more patient treatment rooms.

"At Carlisle House, which is quite small, the nurses have to wait until the doctors are not working so they can use the rooms for treatment. Whereas here, they have there own rooms, so the treatments will flow better than they have done."