HEALTH officials hope to ease overcrowding at a Washington health centre with plans for a £1.5m extension.
The extra space will be created at the Victoria Road Health Centre, Concord, if their bid wins planning permission and funding.
The Sunderland West Primary Care Group said the 1960s-built centre, which has six doctors and serves 28,000 patients, no longer meets the demands of modern health care.
The group said the centre suffers from low staff morale, problems recruiting health workers, lack of privacy and that it carries out no health promotion work.
The group has lodged a planning application with Sunderland City Council that includes a treatment unit for small operations, a nurse practitioner room and chiropody and physiotherapy rooms.
The plan also includes a new car park layout with 55 spaces and parking for 13 staff cars.
A report by group officials said: "Victoria Road Health centre epitomises the problems currently being faced.
"The health centre was built in the 1960s, extended in the 1980s, and has been outgrown by the demands of current primary care provision.
"The area served by Victoria Road has long been recognised as an area in need of investment, to improve the health of the population."
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