All medical centres replacing Orsett Hospital to be up and running by end of 2021

Details of the new Integrated Medical Centres (IMCs) have been outlined in a report which has been prepared for the council’s Health and Wellbeing Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The first centre to open will cover Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham in Stanford-le-Hope. Planning consent was secured in 2016 and it is expected to be funded by the North East London NHS Foundation Trust.

With a construction period of 15 months, the Stanford IMC could be operational as early as 2020. The Tilbury IMC will serve the local area along with Chadwell St Mary. The council is expected to agree to fund the construction of this centre at a meeting on September 12 at a cost of £20million with building work completed by the end of 2021.

The Purfleet and South Ockendon IMC will be built as part of the wider Purfleet Centre regeneration scheme. Outline planning permission was submitted in December 2017 and is likely to go before the planning committee later this year.

This is hoped to open sometime in 2021.

The Thurrock Community Hospital will be transformed into the fourth IMC and serve Grays and Chafford Hundred. The report states: “As the only site already built, Thurrock Community Hospital offers the opportunity to renovate and redesign facilities to accommodate services.”

The Grays IMC could also see the introduction of a new GP service.

Further healthcare improvements will take place in a second phase of the project with plans to improve the South Ockendon Health Centre, which is currently occupied by a GP practice and several clinical services. These are due to be presented to the council in December.

The report adds: “Health partners have confirmed the building is no longer fit for purpose, and they see potential benefits in redeveloping the site to create a new health centre which could bring together other surgeries from the local area, and to equip it with a fuller range of primary care facilities.”