A NEW improved service at the Swan Surgery in Petersfield is set to offer patients better solutions for collecting prescriptions, with an in-house pharmacy set to open next year. Patients will no longer need to make two trips after visiting the surgery, as prescriptions will be available to collect at the new pharmacy based on- site open 100 hours a week. In addition, the surgery itself is to have a £400,000 makeover to provide much improved services for patients to the Swan Street practice, which GPs said would have a "huge impact." Builders began work at the site this week and GPs hope the project will be completed by April next year as a "real benefit to the town." The improvements have become a necessity as the surgery has taken on an extra 3,000 patients since moving to their Swan Street practice in 1992, from a much smaller premises based within the Festival Hall car park. Swan Surgery GP Steve Buckley said: "We have embarked on a building project in partnership with Boots, the chemist. We are very excited because no longer will people have to see us and then have to drive into town to get their prescriptions. It will be a one-stop service. "For people in Petersfield, 100 hours means it will be open later in the evening and on Saturdays, so people can access pharmacy services if, for example, they had a child who was ill overnight." Previously they would have to travel as far away as Guildford or Portsmouth. They will now be able to get their medicines freely at a pharmacy in Petersfield. An application for a pharmacy failed two years ago. Dr Buckley added: "As the town has got bigger we have had a need to provide more facilities for the growing population." Among the plans for the surgery itself are automated check-ins and an upgraded reception. which should reduce queuing and allow staff to provide a better service for patients. Improved baby changing facilities and air conditioning amd improved toilets would also be installed as part of the overhaul. The new reception area would have an automated entrance, and a wheelchair friendly check-in, allowing staff to be freer to answer phone calls and deal with queries.