A NEW medical centre could be housed inside a shopping centre as part of its redevelopment plan.

Doctors have said "exciting" plans are being looked into to improve healthcare provision in Witham.

GPs in the town are working with councillors at the NHS to get better health facilities, including a possible super surgery which would see all GPs working under the same roof.

Witham MP Priti Patel recently met with NewRiver Retail to discuss their plans to redevelop the Newlands Shopping Centre.

She said: “Six years ago when I was first elected MP, I immediately began campaigning to build a new health facility in Witham. I identified then that healthcare services in the town require improved access and service integration for patients.

"These redevelopment plans provide an exciting opportunity to house this new facility right in the centre of the town and achieve my campaign objective: to improve healthcare provision in Witham for my constituents.

"However, the new centre in Witham will need to be fully integrated and multi-purpose in order to meet the growing needs of my constituents."

She said in order to make it work she is working alongside the ambulance service, Braintree Council, the Mid Essex CCG and Witham GPs.

Dr Ahmed Mayat from Fern House Surgery in Newland Street attended a meeting with town councillors and the Mid Essex CCG to discuss possibilities.

He said: "It’s very early stages and there are lots of hurdles we need to overcome but Priti Patel and I have said we are keen on the idea of a super surgery.

“There’s lots of work that’s going to be going into this but now we are all working together on projects that are quite exciting.

“We are really appreciative of the backing of GPs to consider working together and all the major players are supportive of the potential project.”

At a meeting with the council in June Dr Ahmed Mayet from Fern House Surgery in Newland Street said he would work on an Expression of Interest to secure funding to take this further.

Stuart Mitchell, director at NewRiver Retail, said he met with Ms Patel last week and are engaging with Braintree Council, focused on delivering a new mixed use development potentially including a medical facility to regenerate the town centre.