A TIME capsule has been buried at the official opening of a health centre.

The North Road health centre opened earlier this year and was one of two new centres costing £10million covering Westcliff, the other being the Valkyrie Road centre.

The centres have been developed by Prydium, a public-private partnership involving Community Health Partnerships, GB Partnerships and contractor Galliford Try.

The time capsule was put together by local artist Dave Taylor. It includes drawings and writing by children from six local schools – St Bernard’s, Barons Court, Westborough, Milton Hall, St Helen’s and St Mary’s.

The children were asked to describe their lives now and to imagine what their lives would be like in 25 years time.

There were also contributions to the time capsule from staff working on the construction of the building and numerous items from contemporary life, such as newspapers, magazines and currency.

The deputy mayor, Chris Walker, opened the centre and was joined by Katherine Kirk, former chair of South Essex Primary Care Trust.

Mrs Kirk said: “Today is a very important landmark.

“Everyone who has been involved in the projects has been working with one goal in mind, to provide residents of both Westcliff and Southend with a more efficient, effective health service.

“It is wonderful to see this work has paid off and to see how residents are benefiting from new fit-for-purpose buildings that offer a greater range of health services under one roof.”

Dr Varghese George, GP at the Central Surgery operating out of North Road Primary Care Centre said: “I am very happy to say on behalf of our practice that we are all pleased to be in this modern primary care centre with all the facilities available, to enable us to give the best care to our patients in this area.

“Our patients are delighted with the new premises. We are getting very positive feedback from them.”

The 2,081sqm North Road centre offers a range of health services, including three GP practices – West Road Surgery, Central Surgery and New Westborough Surgery – a leg ulcer clinic, ultrasound, paediatric speech and language and continence advisory services.

The centre will also host Healthwatch meetings, as well as training sessions for various groups, including fire warden training and school nurse training.

Dr Sarah Raper, Community Health Partnerships’ executive director said: “Our overall aim is to create the highest quality primary and community facilities that serve the needs of local communities and contribute towards improving people’s health and wellbeing.

“Combined, the centres reflect an investment of almost £10million in local health services.

“This investment has only been possible because of the Local Improvement Finance Trust programme.”