NHS plans for a so-called Carlisle super-surgery have taken a step closer after they were lodged with the city council.

An application for full planing permission has been submitted for the four-storey South Carlisle Healthcare Hub on a former railway siding at Locke Road, Eastern Way.

They have been submitted on behalf of GP group, Carlisle Healthcare by developer United Healthcare Developments Ltd.

Last year they unveiled their plans for the hub with 60 practice rooms, accommodating 50 staff and the ability to treat 35,000 patients.

Services that have been mooted include a GP surgery, physiotherapy, community mental health and others.

Chris Proctor-Smith, operation director at United Healthcare Developments Ltd, said: “We have been working with and supporting Carlisle Healthcare since 2015 in their bid to secure NHS England funding for a new healthcare hub serving the city.

"The South Carlisle Healthcare Hub will modernise and transform care, providing more accessible and extended services, to improve the health and wellbeing of patients and communities in South Carlisle, as well as enabling the practice to work more efficiently to be better able to keep up with the ever-increasing demand for services.

“With Carlisle Healthcare’s agreement, we identified and purchased a suitable site for the proposed healthcare hub on Locke Road, off Eastern Way, and outline planning consent for the site was granted in December 2018.

“The process of developing this large healthcare hub is complexed and can take a long time to navigate through all the necessary stages.

“Having spent several months designing and refining the detailed building layout and plans the next key stage in the process is to secure full planning consent for the proposal.”

A spokewoman for NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group said: “We are supporting Carlisle Healthcare in their bid to develop this new purpose-built hub.

“We know these developments can take a long time to navigate, and we are keen to support this opportunity to improve the experience for patients and the team at Carlisle Healthcare.”

The GP practice operates from five sites across the city with the eventual aim of reducing them to three – one north, one in the city centre and another the south hub.

For information go to: publicaccess.carlisle.gov.uk - ref 20/0292