Plans to create a ‘super-surgery’ serving tens of thousands of patients in the north of Blackburn are on hold.

Last year, the Lancashire Telegraph reported there were plans for a £9.57million combined practice created in north Blackburn, for patients who are currently registered with either the Umar, Little Harwood, Primrose Bank and Brookhouse health centres, or Brownhill, Roe Lee and Shifa surgeries.

But since then, the situation has changed and Brookhouse Health Centre in Whalley Range and Shifa Surgery in Bangor Street, Blackburn, are currently going through the merger process with a view to creating a joint practice serving 12,000 patients.

That will be based at the Shifa Surgery site in Bangor Street, with an extension due to be built to accommodate the increase in patients.

Health chiefs from Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commissioning Group said they still had the appetite to create a super-surgery in the north of the town but added the project was currently on the back burner.

Updating a meeting of the group at Blackburn Library, Dr Malcolm Ridgway said: “The north scheme is still paused although at some point in the future we hope to renew discussions with practices.

“We have had initial discussions and quite a lot of practices were keen.

“Since then, we have had the Shifa Surgery development and I think that has had an effect.

“One or two practices are not as keen as they were. We need to let the dust settle a little bit and then go back to it.

“Now is probably not quite the right time.”

Chair of the committee, Graham Burgess, added: “It is going to take us some time to get to the north scheme. We have got a long way to go.”

One of the last major commissions to open was the £21 million Barbara Castle Way Health Centre, which brought the Oakenhurst Medical Practice, The Montague Practice and The Family Practice all under one roof in 2011.

Dr Ridgway added plans for a super-surgery serving west Blackburn were still progressing.

But the Blackburn West bid, which could see a wellbeing hub situated near Witton Park subject to further discussions, has moved slower than expected.

The project for Blackburn West could incorporate Witton Medical Centre, Redlam Surgery and Limefield Surgery, and cover 25,000 patients.

He said: “In terms of the west scheme, we are working through the business case. I think there is a lot of frustration [at the delay] but they are carrying on working things through and it gives us time to think about what services we might accommodate there.”

Proposed work to help facilitate the merger between Brookhouse and Shifa could cost more than £850,000.

Brookhouse Medical Centre in Whalley Range, Blackburn, has been vacated and all patients are being treated at Shifa Surgery in Bangor Street.

The formal merger will be completed in June when the IT systems can be reconfigured but work is needed to make the building suitable to deal with the increased demand.

NHS Property Services has been working with the practice and Blackburn with Darwen Clinical Commisioning Group to come up with a plan to restructure the building.

An extension is planned which primary care transformation lead for the CCG, Peter Sellars, says will allow clinical services at the practice to be more efficient.

Members of the CCG approved plans to progress the project when they met on Tuesday.

Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care strategy has set out a plan to have fewer but larger practices delivering care.

In achieving this ambition, both surgeries are now operated by a single contract holder and is now in the process of combining both contracts into one to give a combined list size of about 12,000 patients.