THE completion of structural work on a town’s new £5m health centre has been marked by schoolchildren bury-ing a time capsule with the theme “surgery of the future”.

Cinderford’s purpose-built facility on Valley Road is set to transform local GP services when it opens next summer, replacing the town’s existing health centre which houses both Dockham Road Surgery and Forest Health Care.

The topping-out milestone of the last beam being put in place was celebrated by a small gathering, including representatives from the two practices, pupils from Forest High School and other interested groups.

Youngsters helped fill the capsule with information about the current practice, a map of the area, facts about the building, photos, and a vision of what they think a surgery of the future will be like.

The new health centre is being built to modern, environmentally- friendly, state-of-the art specifications, and includes 20 multi-purpose consulting rooms, nurse treatment areas and first-rate facilities for reception and administration staff, making it “a great environment for both patients and staff”.

It will also have features to make it a welcoming environment for people living with dementia and those with disabilities.

Dockham Road Sur- gery GP, Dr Ingalill Sandys, said: “It’s fantastic to have reached this stage, and to celebrate all the hard work, enthusiasm and passion which is going into creating our contemporary, new health centre.

“With a growing population and existing facilities which no longer meet modern healthcare standards, we really need this new health centre to ensure we can continue to provide high quality services for years to come.

“We have put a lot of thought into creating an attractive building and surrounding environment which will be welcoming to all our patients, including those with dementia.”

Forest Health Care GP, Dr Deborah Lane, added: “This is great news for our patients and staff.

“The new building will help us to meet the ever-increasing health and care needs of our patients and offer a broader range of services to patients.

“We have placed a real focus on ensuring that the building and staff can really support people living with dementia.

“They can find it difficult to read signs and may require help to find their way around. We will have signs with symbols and pictures, which can be easier to understand.”

Also at the topping-out event were representatives of the Patient Participation Group, dementia experts who offered advice on the new building, the NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group, development company Assura and construction company Speller Metcalfe.

Jon Webb of Assura said: “It’s always good to celebrate reaching this key stage of the construction process and great to involve the local community. The positive social impact of the new GP premises and related benefits will make a huge difference to health outcomes locally.

“The practices have more than 100,000 patient interactions each year, so Assura and its design team have been working hard to ensure the final finishes will create an inclusive, cognitively-supportive design for everyone that uses it.”

Meryl Cook, of Forest Healthcare PPG, added: ”The space promises to be fantastic; it will be dementia-friendly and well signposted, which will be lovely for both young and elderly patients.”

NHS GCCG primary care chief, Helen Goodey, said: “This is a really exciting milestone for patients and healthcare staff in the local area.

“We are working hard to ensure that GP services are provided in modern facilities that support the provision of high quality care, and are really pleased to see this fantastic new development progressing.”