Plans for doctors to move into Southsea’s former Debenhams store have been delayed by what a senior health official has described as “a slight hiccup”.
Almost a year on from Portsmouth City Council giving permission for surgery space, a pharmacy, dentist and retail area on the ground floor plus 130 flats above and next to the prominent 1950s building on the corner of Palmerston Road, there has been no visible sign of progress.
At a meeting of the council’s health scrutiny panel on September 22, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board’s acting director of primary care Sylvia Macey told councillors that the NHS was still keen to progress, but that there had been “a slight hiccup” with completing the sale of the land from National Regional Property Group. Talks were ongoing.
