A DROP-IN GP surgery running from 8am to 8pm seven days a week has been officially opened.

The White Horse Surgery and Walk in Centre in Vale Road, Northfleet, opened its doors to patients on September 14, and its four doctors and three nurses have so far seen almost 800 patients.

Up to 6,000 people can register with a GP at the surgery, and there is also a walk-in centre for patients who do not have an appointment or are not registered there.

Dr Harshad Topiwala, acting chairman of NHS West Kent, the primary care trust for north Kent, cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony.

He said: “The location of the health centre was chosen very carefully to make access easy for people in north Kent.

“We are conscious that access to medical care for the population of some of north Kent has not been as good as in some of the leafier parts of Kent.”

NHS West Kent has agreed a five-year deal with Fleet Healthcare Ltd, a consortium of 11 local GPs, to run the health centre.

The White Horse is the first GP surgery in north Kent to be open seven days a week, and is accessible via Fastrack buses to all of Gravesend and Northfleet.

It will cost around £1.4m in the first year to rent the building and run the surgery, and developer GPI (General Practice Investments) built and owns the premises.

Funding comes from the Department of Health, following a Government pledge to invest £250m to create a GP-led health centre in each PCT area in the country.

Currently in a temporary building, the centre is expected to move into a new permanent building in spring 2011, which will include a theatre for minor surgery and a late night pharmacy.