Published: Wednesday, 28th July, 2010 4:53pm

November opening for Navan medical centre

The new medical centre at Athlumney will replace the 100-year-old Bedford Place doctors' surgery.

Work is progressing on a new medical centre being constructed at Convent Road, Athlumney, Navan, that is to replace the Bedford Place surgery in the town which has been home to a long line of local GPs for a century.

It is expected that the medical centre will open in November and all seven doctors from Bedford Place will move to the new facility. Due to a lack of space at the existing Bedford Place surgery and with no scope to extend, the surgery is relocating to the new purpose-built medical centre at Athlumney.

The plans for the new group medical centre include 10 medical and seven professional suites, associated nurses' stations, treatment rooms, meeting rooms, administration and reception areas, as well as staff and public toilet facilities, reception, waiting area and dispensery.

External works include car parking for 44 cars and landscaping to the front and rear of the building. The development lies within the curtilage of St Michael's Loreto Convent, which is a protected structure, and includes work to the existing wall along Convent Road to allow vehicular and pedestrian access to the site.

A doctors' surgery has been located at Bedford Place for 100 years and the premises was extended in 1996. However, due to the increase in population, the surgery was no longer able to cater for its growing number of patients in a comfortable environment and work began on the new centre, which has taken approximately five years to bring to fruition.