White Lodge Medical Practice had previously been based in the same listed building for over a century, reports James Cracknell

A doctor’s surgery in Enfield Town has relocated to a new purpose-built facility after spending 118 years in one of the borough’s oldest buildings.

White Lodge Medical Practice had been based at White Lodge in Silver Street since 1903, but the Grade 2-listed former residence had long become too cramped and inefficient for a modern GP surgery in a busy town centre.

The GP partners at White Lodge had been looking for a suitable new site to move to since 2006, but did not find somewhere until 2015. A long period of planning and delayed construction meant that the new White Lodge in Chase Side did not open until December 2021.

After taking the Dispatch on a tour of the new building, which cost £4.3million to build and also includes a new home for Whitaker’s Pharmacy, White Lodge director Harry Grewal said: “It is pretty much double the size.

“There are 16 rooms and we are using ten or eleven rooms at the moment, so we have the capacity to expand. We are also set up to provide additional services [from other NHS providers] if we are approached.”

Asked about the decision to leave the building which originally gave White Lodge Medical Practice its name, Dr Grewal said: “The old place was so badly arranged, because it was an old residence – it wasn’t fit for the 20th Century let alone the 21st.

“As much as it had charm and character, every day there was another problem. We were running out of usable space, it was all just nooks and crannies. But I will miss the garden!”

The old White Lodge building was sold to help finance the new site, but because of its listing it cannot be redeveloped. Dr Grewal said he understood it would now be turned into offices.

White Lodge Medical Practice now has the space it needs to grow as the population of Enfield itself grows. Within the first few months of opening its list of patients has already expanded from 11,600 to 12,100.

As a training practice, part of the Enfield and Haringey Vocational Training Scheme (VTS), White Lodge provides education and support for the aspiring doctors of tomorrow. It is also affiliated with leading university medical schools in London.

For more information about White Lodge Medical Practice:
Visit whitelodgemedicalpractice.nhs.uk

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