TWO Wirral-based surgeries have relocated to a newly renovated site thanks to the support of a seven-figure funding package from Lloyd Bank Commercial Banking.

Heswall Medical Centre and Pensby Surgery have joined under one roof to form Heswall and Pensby Group Practice.

The move comes after partners spotted the opportunity to expand the services on offer to patients by refurbishing the current Heswall Medical Centre.

Work began on the surgery in October last year, with a second floor being added to house a number of new consulting rooms.

A minor operations suite and further areas for visiting physiotherapists and counsellors to work from have also been added.

The surgery now has full disabled access, including a lift.

Dr Sophia Nelson, partner at Heswall and Pensby Group Practice, said: "We have been hoping to refurbish the centre for over fifteen years, so to eventually see it completed is a very proud moment for everyone involved.

"We care for over 12,400 people across the Heswall and Pensby area, and the new centre will enable us to offer a wider range of care options, as well as providing room to keep expanding over the next few years as our list size increases further.

"The practice will also be working closely with Wirral Community Trust-owned Heswall Clinic, which is adjacent to the surgery, in order to ensure that patients receive a fully streamlined and comprehensive level of care and support at one easily accessible location."

In order to gain the funding for the refurbishments, the surgery approached Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking which provided a seven-figure funding package through the Funding for Lending Scheme (FLS).

Since the launch of the initiative in September 2012 the bank has committed more than ﾣ7.5 billion of support to SMEs through the scheme, offering a one per cent discount to businesses across all sectors for the life of their loan.

Dr Nelson added: "The service we have received from Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking has been instrumental to the project's success.

"The Bank immediately understood what we were trying to achieve, and our banking consultant, Graham Scott, has always been on hand to provide pragmatic and honest guidance at every stage of the development."

Graham Scott, senior healthcare banking consultant at Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, added: "Combining the two surgeries at one state-of-the-art centre means that patients will have access to a wider range of services in a modern and spacious environment.

"We are passionate about supporting healthcare businesses like Heswall and Pensby Group Practice, and have a team of dedicated healthcare relationship managers who will work with medical businesses to create a specialist funding package which is suited to their needs."