A multi-million pound doctor's surgery has opened for business this week in Wymondham, designed to handle the town's exploding population.Patients at the existing Windmill Surgery were referred to its new, state-of-the-art premises from Monday , on a patch of former allotment ground on London Road.

A multi-million pound doctor's surgery has opened for business this week in Wymondham, designed to handle the town's exploding population.

Patients at the existing Windmill Surgery were referred to its new, state-of-the-art premises from Monday , on a patch of former allotment ground on London Road.

'Once or twice, people have said we'll change when we get to the new surgery, but we're still the same people,' said practice manager, Colin Foulger.

'The ethos and the style haven't changed, but the building has.'

The new centre will be able to deal with 9,000 registered patients, helping to cater for the more than two thousand homes planned for construction in Wymondham over the next 15 years.

The building, which is 250pc larger than the previous premises, includes two nurses' rooms, a counselling room, a minor operations room and five doctor's offices.

The surgery's three existing GPs and two nurses are to be supplemented with two trainee doctors within a year. Two specially constructed offices await them, with connecting doors to the offices of their mentors, should they be needed for advice.

As well as this, the first floor provides space for administrative staff and a large meeting room, which has a separate, secure entrance.

The intention is to eventually open this space up to community groups.

'The intention is that, because we've got the extra facilities, we could run clinics. There are all sorts of different things we could do,' said Mr Foulger.

Planning permission was first sought for the site more than two years ago, and construction alone took almost 12 months.

'It's been a long, torturous road; we're still putting bits and pieces together,' he said.

'The whole idea is we're still the Windmill Surgery, but in a new, purpose-built building which can cope with the 21st century.'

Within the next two years, 30 flats will be built on the land surrounding the surgery, some of which will be purpose-built housing for physically or mentally disabled occupants.

The old surgery, a 1950's converted bungalow on Melton Road, is likely to be pressed back into healthcare service by its GP owners as a private cancer clinic.