DROITWICH Spa Medical Centre has been hailed a success one year after it was opened.

Town MP Peter Luff visited the health centre to mark its first anniversary and described it as “outstanding”.

Mr Luff visited the two medical practices in the centre – The Spa and Salters Medical Practices – as well as the physiotherapy service also based at the site.

He also saw the preparatory work for the new X-ray services to be operated by the private sector and toured the day case surgery unit.

He said: “What Droitwich now has is, in effect, a hospital without beds – a medical facility capable of dealing with a huge range of health issues using state-of-the-art equipment. During the construction phase, I was surprised by the size of the building but in fact it packs a lot in.

“The day case unit is capable of delivering virtually any surgical procedure done under local anaesthetic – and at a much lower cost than at an acute hospital. Operations performed there are more convenient for local people and cost the taxpayer less - it will be a win-win situation if it’s used as much as I hope.

“The doctors who were behind the design, funding and development of this project really do deserve the gratitude of the town. Left exclusively to the NHS we just wouldn’t have this first-rate service in Droitwich. It’s a great local initiative.

“I describe it as a hospital without beds – and beds are what we need next in Droitwich. The Worcester hospital is reasonably close, but getting there by public transport or car can be a nightmare – and it’s operating at full capacity. What we need next are step-down, convalescent beds in Droitwich for people to recover nearer to their friends and families.

“But that’s the next stage - nothing can detract from the excellence of the new health centre. It’s yet another reason to be really confident about the town’s future.”