A NEW £4million health centre has defended a decision to send some children to Ipswich Hospital for blood tests.When the Framfield House surgery relocated to a large new purpose-built centre at Notcutts garden centre in Woodbridge, the public was told it would be a ''one-stop'' centre where they could have access to a wide range of health care.

A NEW £4million health centre has defended a decision to send some children to Ipswich Hospital for blood tests.

When the Framfield House surgery relocated to a large new purpose-built centre at Notcutts garden centre in Woodbridge, the public was told it would be a ''one-stop'' centre where they could have access to a wide range of health care.

But children under 16 have to go to Ipswich Hospital for blood tests if they arrive at Framfield Medical Centre in the afternoon or when a specialist nurse is not working.

The surgery moved into the new premises last August and it was joined by the Suffolk Primary Care Trust who moved services from its Pytches Road clinic into the medical centre.

One of the aims of the new centre was specifically to reduce the need for referrals to Ipswich Hospital.

However, a stepfather has complained that his 16-year-old stepson was told that he would have to go to Ipswich Hospital for a blood test.

The man, who declined to be named, said: ''This is a bizarre situation where we have an all-singing, all-dancing medical new centre that can not give out blood tests.''

Lorraine Foster, practice manager, said: ''We do have a nurse specialising in working with children and if she is here - she works part-time - she will happily do it, but otherwise it is too specialist for the healthcare assistant.

''The other restriction is that they need to be done before 12.30pm as that is when the blood tests are collected and go to the hospital. The blood tests should not be stored overnight at the medical centre.''

She added: ''The vast, vast majority of blood tests are done here and not sent to the hospital.''