PICTURES: See inside the new £800,000 doctors' surgery set to open on Monday

Around £800,000 has been spent moving Lockwood Avenue Surgery 300m down the road to the Civic Centre, off Breck Road, where patients will now benefit from state-of-the-art facilities.

Manager Nathalie Lewin said: “We have been waiting for this move for some time and we are all excited.

“This really is the best solution for all our patients who will be able to benefit from care in a much more appropriate setting.

“The Civic Centre space provides us with all the facilities we need to deliver high quality care for generations to come.”

Fylde and Wyre Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG)’s plans to move the surgery and double it in size were approved by the council last year.

The new surgery has a reception and waiting room for 40 people, including a children’s play area, four consultation rooms, two treatment rooms, and a minor operations room.

Some 16 car parking spaces were also planned, while two part-time jobs are thought to have been created.

The CCG’s clinical chief officer, Dr Tony Naughton, said: “It has been no secret that the Lockwood Avenue building is no longer fit for purpose.

“It is certainly not the place to deliver services for the coming decades.

“What we have developed at Wyre Civic Centre is the ideal facility to house a practice fit not just for the present but for the future as well.”

Chief executive at Wyre Council, Garry Payne, said moving the surgery into the civic centre would create a ‘health hub’, where GPs would be able to refer patients for debt and welfare, volunteering, care and repair, and housing advice all under one roof.

“Creating a healthier Wyre is one of the council’s priorities and the creation of a health hub in Poulton is the first step towards improving the health and wellbeing of our residents,” he said.

In 2010, plans to move the surgery into a purpose-built medical centre in Vicarage Road, along with practices from Queensway and Princess Avenue were thrown out by the council for a second time, having already been shelved in 2008.

The surgery’s former home is now set to become a block of flats after Mr T Bithell, of Poulton Road, was granted planning permission.

Consultation rooms will be turned into bedrooms, a reception will become a kitchen, and the manager’s office will be turned into a bathroom.