Foundations

New foundations being dug inside the rear part of the surgery. This is the single storey part at the back, nearest the car park.  It is the original part of the building and dates back to 1971.  It is necessary to dig the foundations to support the new sound proof walls and solid floors.

Demolition

Phlebotomy and Dr Jones' rooms

Former disabled toilet

Dr Fox's old room

Looking down the old corridor towards the old fire exit

Old reception desk and heating system

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Phase 2

Our move last weekend went well.  We moved all appointments to the Windlesham branch surgery on Friday afternoon.  This allowed us to close the building.  Lightwater Removals moved the furniture for us, most of which has gone upstairs.  We spent Saturday moving the phone and computer servers to their new home.

We now have three consulting rooms on the ground floor.  These are mixed use at present but eventually will be used just by the practice nurses.  We are using two rooms on the first floor for consulting, this is just for the next 2 months.

The front ramp is in use and allows disabled access to the building for the first time in nearly 40 years!  We are waiting for a glass automatic door to be installed to complete the access improvements.  There is an identical ramp at the rear of the building to assist patients arriving by car.

There is still a lot of work to do, even in the part of the building we now occupy but we hope you get an idea of what it will look like.  Thank you for your patience so far!

Moving

We have now almost finished phase one of the re-development.  There are just floors to be laid and furniture to be fitted inside.  Outside you can see the canopy taking shape over the front door then the new tarmac surface needs to be laid.

We will move into the new part of the building on Friday 25th November.  On that afternoon the surgery will be closed from 12.30 onwards.  We will continue to offer some appointments and the duty doctor from the branch surgery at Windlesham.  Please phone the usual number.

Thank you for your understanding in the last few weeks.  We know the temporary entrance at the back of the property has been far from ideal.

New waiting room

Front part of the single storey extension is taking shape.  This will be the new waiting room and the phlebotomist's room.

Inside the first floor has been decorated and we are ready for second fix electrics and radiators to go on.

We will be moving into the new wing on Friday 25 November.

Temporary entrance

Please note for a 4 week period we are using the former staff entrance at the rear of the property for all patients.  Unfortunately this entrance has 7 steps which some of our patients might not be able to manage.  All patients are being informed of this when booking appointments.  If patients are not able to manage these steps we can see them at the Windlesham branch surgery or on a home visit if necessary.

This is only a temporary arrangement before we open the new entrance next month.  Apologies for any inconvenience caused.

Drains and water mains

Regular visitors to the practice will have noticed that progress on the disabled access ramp and front of the building seems to have stalled.  We developed a problem with our drains and were keen to make sure we did not build over a man hole cover that might be needed in the future.  Our drains have a history of blocking easily.  This has been mainly due to our neighbours, their drains pass directly under the surgery and merge with ours before reaching the main sewer in the road.

No sooner was that problem sorted than we discovered a problem with our water main.  The pipe installed when the practice was built was only 15mm in diameter, it should be 25mm.  Ir was also only buried 29cm deep, it should at least 75cm according to modern regulations.

You can see in the photo below the new man hole cover to allow access to the drains.  The new water main is the blue pipe and the existing very small bore copper pipe can be seen next to it.

New floors

Block and beam flooring laid in the new consulting rooms

New entrance door

The new entrance doorway is being constructed.  The old waiting room window has been removed and the wall supported ready for a steel support joist to be fitted.  Eventually there will be an automatic glass door fitted.  Before then we will have a temporary wooden door.

Foundations

New foundations for consulting rooms along side Christie Close.

Foundations

The foundations have been laid for the extension on the east side of the building, the side that borders Christie Close  You can start to get an idea of how large the new building will be.  You can also see the outline of the new consulting rooms.  There will 9 brand new consulting rooms on this side of the building, all will be sound proofed as well as three new toilets, a store room and a lift to the first floor. This extension will be single storey.  At first it will look quite stark but once we have re-planted the hedge it should blend in.

Inside the plasterers are finishing off and we can then start decorating and fitting the electrics and radiators.  All the wiring and most of the pipework is in place.

We are holding off moving into the new west wing as the second phase of the works will be more cramped for us and some consultations will need to take place upstairs.  For this reason the contractors are laying the foundations and will build most of the walls before we move over to the new half.

Cherry tree gone and work on the front of the building started

Work on the foundations for the front access ramp off All Saints Road

 

Rear access ramp now completed

 

Finishing touches to the new walkway from the car park to the front entrance

 

The cherry tree finally came down last week.  This has cleared the front area for construction of the new disabled ramp.  Until now most of the building work has been internal or at the back of the property and therefore hidden from sight.  Hopefully you will now get to see more of what is being done.

The ramp at the rear is now finished and leads from the car park to the side of the building.  At the side bordering Rose Cottages a new walk way has been constructed (see above).  This will allow patients using the car park to walk around to the new main entrance at the front.  You may not have noticed this area before as it was largely overgrown.  Once the ramps are completed the new automatic door can be fitted.

Internally the first floor walls are in place and partly boarded.  The electrician is fitting the electric wiring, a fire detection and alarm system, and a computer and telephone network.  The ground floor nursing rooms are ready to be fitted out once the electrics and plumbing are installed.

Windlesham consulation

We are starting a consultation on the future of the branch surgery at Updown Hill in Windlesham.  Full details are available on the practice website and from both reception desks.

The consultation period will run for 13 weeks finishing on 31 October.  We want to hear from anyone with a view on what we should do to contact us.  This will include patients, members of the public and neighbours of ours.

You can comment online by sending an email to windleshamconsultation@gmail.com, you can add a comment on this blog.  You can write to us at either surgery or you can tell us verbally what you think at reception, on the phone or during a clinical appointment.  In all cases we do need to know who has commented so please try not to make your comments anonymous!

We intend to hold an open meeting, most likely in mid-September and we will publicise this widely once the venue and date have been confirmed.

Access ramps

Ramp from ground level

Aerial view of the ramp

The new roof is now on and the surgery is again water proof! The new access ramp is being built. This is a ramp which is suitable for wheelchair users and those with poor mobility. The maximum gradient is easy to manage, warm hand rails will be provided and a non slip surface. There will be separate steps for those who don't want to walk the long way round! As you can see in the photograph there is a lot of brickwork in the construction of the ramp. A similar ramp will be built at the front of the building. These ramps will replace the very steep inclines

Wet weekend

A combination of some very heavy rain and our half finished roof spelt disaster on Saturday morning.  A large volume of water got in through the roof and penetrated as far as the ground floor. Fortunately the main damage was to the corridor area rather than the consulting rooms.

We have been in over the weekend and patched the roof and cleared up on the ground floor ready for a busy Monday morning surgery.

We will keep our fingers crossed as more heavy showers are forecast for this week.

Roof

The roof is almost complete on the rear extension, see the photo below.  The roofer will finish this tomorrow.  The foundations have been prepared for the disabled ramp down to the car park, you can just about see this in the photo.  This ramp will enable wheelchair users and those with mobility problems to easily get from their cars into the surgery.  A second ramp will be provided at the front to make access easier from the pavement. 

7 July

Floor being installed in the new reception area

Progress on first floor

Progress so far

Rear view of old ramp

Work has been moving on at quite a pace.  You can see in the first photo the old disabled access ramp.  This has been dug up to lay new drains.  At the bottom of the picture you can just see the foundations for the new wall.  The support steel is in place to allow the first floor to be constructed.  This view will disappear as the new wall is built.  This newly enclosed area will form the new reception and phone answering area.  The new staff entrance will be on the left of this picture.

Deliveries for the new walls

Old ramp

Old meeting room

Work on the foundations for the larger part of the building should start this week.  This is the single storey extension along the Christie Close boundary. The blocks have already arrived.





The third picture shows the remains of the old ramp. 
















Last photo is the interior of the first floor meeting room.  This wall will be knocked out this week.  You can see the support steel ready to go in.

Hedge has gone

The large hedge from the corner of Christie Close has been removed.  The photos show just how much space this has generated.

Stripping out

The treatment rooms have been stripped out.  These will be the first rooms to be refurbished.

Monday 6 June

Monday will see the start of the building work.  Please remember we will be open as usual at Lightwater throughout the re-development work.  We will offer all the same services, opening times and exactly the same number of appointments.

Clearly with fewer consulting rooms we will need to be flexible on using the remaining rooms.  You may notice unusual appointment times such as evenings and afternoons and you may be offered an appointment at our Windlesham branch surgery.

Blood tests (phlebotomy) will be the most obvious change.  Blood samples need to be processed by the lab as soon as possible after they have been taken.  For this reason we must do all our blood taking in the mornings.  This allows for the blood to be collected at 1030 and 1300 and transported to Frimley Park.  As these phlebotomy sessions are not flexible by time we have needed to move most of them to the Windlesham branch.  We realise this is not ideal and will cause problems for some of our patients.  The alternative would have been to send patients to Frimley Park to have the blood taken there.  If any patient has a problem attending Windlesham or getting to Frimley Park then please discuss this with our reception staff and we will be able to make separate arrangements.

The picture

Most of you will have noticed the above picture.  It was a gift from the artist, Helen Davies to Dr McFarlane on her retirement in 2005.  It has hung in the waiting room ever since.  Sadly there will not be space in the new building to accommodate such a large work of art so we have had to find a new home for it.  The new owner has made a donation to Woking Hospice in return for the picture.

Admin offices moved

We have now vacated the upstairs admin offices.  Most of our admin staff and the district nurses are now settled into their temporary home in the car park! Everyone seems very pleased with the cabins and they might even be better than the existing office space!

We now just have some surplus office furniture to move and some rubbish for the tip.  We need to thank Lightwater Removals, they did a great job moving and then moving again until everything fitted.

We now have a definite date for the work to commence of 6th June.  This is 2 weeks later than we had hoped but gives us a bit move time to sort out our temporary timetables for appointments.

We expect the contractors to be on site slightly earlier to set up their site offices and remove the substantial undergrowth and hedges.  I understand from a number of patients that the hedge on our boundary with Christie Close has quite a following, and is enjoyed by local residents.  Sadly the hedge does need to go to allow the foundations to be dug.  We will avoid nesting birds most of which seem to have left already.  The hedge is over 2 metres wide in places and well over 3 metres in height.  I conceals a lot of land that we are going to utilise with the extension.  There will be planting to replace the hedge, this will be completed next spring once the building is finished.  It won't be as large but hopefully will help blend the new building in.

Car park closed

We have had two portable office cabins delivered today.  We have positioned these at the bottom of the car park.  They will be used to accommodate the district nurses and most of our administrative staff, that is 14 staff in total.  They might be our "backroom" staff but they are crucial to the smooth running of the practice. If they can not work then the whole practice grinds to a halt!

Tomorrow the cabins will be wired for electricity and phone lines.  The computer cabling will go in on Thursday. The furniture and computers can then be moved in on Thursday.

During this busy week we will need to close the car park.  This is for safety reasons whilst electrical cables are laid and to allow the removals men to work unhindered.  Can we ask patients to park in the car park to the rear of the church on Broadway Road or on All Saints Road.  Please take care not to obstruct our neighbour's driveways

New reception area

The work to build a new temporary reception area is complete.  We have moved two of our admin desks down from the first floor and blocked up the doorway to the former kitchen area.

The former kitchen area will be converted into a nurse treatment room next week.

Our portable office accommodation will be delivered on Tuesday and this will be located towards the bottom of the car park.  This will mean closing the car park on Tuesday to allow access for the delivery trucks and crane.  The cabins will then we wired up and our staff can move into them on Thursday.  We will be using Lightwater Removals once again.  The district nurses will also be moving into the cabins so there may be a change in their contact telephone details.  if in doubt please call the surgery.