PROPOSALS to extend a doctors' surgery so it can meet the needs of thousands of potential new patients have been lodged with planning chiefs.

The Banks & Bearwood Medical Practice wants to extend its surgery at Knights Road, Bearwood, into a two-storey facility with extra consultation and treatment rooms, a larger waiting area and additional administration space.

A document supporting the proposal, prepared by QP Architecture on behalf of the applicant Primary Health Properties Ltd, points out that planning permission has already been granted for three large housing developments in the immediate area.

These developments include 1,600 new homes and two 60-bed care homes, meaning potential for more than 4,000 new patients.

A statement from the surgery included in the design and access document read: "Despite being only eight years old the site at Bearwood is no longer able to provide the required capacity to serve the practice’s increasing list size.

"The practice list has grown by 12 per cent since 2012 and further pressures are expected as a consequence of the additional housing planned in the immediate vicinity.

"The practice require physical estate that is fit for purpose to be able to manage the increased pressure in primary care as well as the shifting workload from the hospital sector. The practice currently has a leased surgery in Winton (The Banks Medical Centre), however this converted house is not fit for healthcare purposes in the 21st century and, when the lease expires in October 2021, this will not be renewed.

"We therefore need to ensure that there is provision to serve the medical needs of the patients who although initially registered at this site have increasingly been attending the better appointed Bearwood facilities.

"However, this does require the extension of the Bearwood site to provide an increased number of consulting and treatment rooms, to not only offset the loss but also provide for the increased population within our Practice registration area."

Should the plans be agreed, the new medical practice would include five new consultation rooms, a new treatment room, a dedicated phlebotomy room and additional waiting room and office space.

The extension would increase the florr space of the surgery from its current 490 metres squared to 890 meters squared, an increase of 387 metres squared.