MICA gains planning for a GPs surgery in Oxford

Oxford city council has unanimously approved MICAs plan for a new GP surgery in the basement of the Northgate development for Jesus College.

Currently under construction Northgate House in Cornmarket Street is a major mixed use education and retail block in central Oxford. The proposed accommodation for the GPs Surgery is configured over three levels of the Northgate retail space, namely at basement, ground and first floor levels.

The space at ground floor (street level) is minimised with a small entrance and light well on Market Street and a small light well on Cornmarket Street provided. The majority of new accommodation is situated within the basement, here we find all of the consulting and treatment rooms. The first floor is used for permanent administration, support, rest and welfare space.

The new basement medical centre, accessed from Market Street, will allow three different practices to move on to one site. They are King Edward Street Surgery and two practices at 27 and 28 Beaumont Street, all of which are considered not fit for purpose because they are based in old, cramped buildings.

As Oxford City Council’s planning committee considered the plans on Tuesday (October 13), GP Matthew Bramall said the move into a new purpose-built surgery was ‘long awaited’. Addressing the committee Dr Bramall added: “Looking after your citizens' health and wellbeing is a fundamental objective of the council – you provide housing, you tackle air pollution, you manage parks, transport and waste collection, and all of these things have a huge impact on local people’s health.

“Making sure they can access decent, compassionate, modern healthcare is surely a goal we all share.”

Alongside two other surgeries making up a new Oxford Central Primary Care Network they will serve between 40,000 and 50,000 patients.

Committee member Louise Upton said the thousands of people visiting the city centre shopping street to see their GP would likely use nearby shops and boost their business.

Oxfordshire’s Clinical Commissioning Group, an NHS body responsible for deciding how to spend money on local health services, is responsible for paying rents, and ‘fit-out’ costs for the new surgery HQ.


To read more about the Northgate development click here