A housing estate has got its own permanent GP two years after the last one left.

Luis Rodrigues is based at the Whitehawk clinic in Brighton which provides a service for more than 2,200 people.

Residents have welcomed the news after months of having to deal with different locums providing temporary cover at the surgery in Whitehawk Way.

The service is being run under the Government's New Deal for Communities scheme and aims to try out more flexible family doctor services.

A general nurse will be working at the centre along with a practice manager. A specialist nurse practitioner is due to join the service later this year.

South Downs Health NHS Trust is responsible for employing the staff at the centre but struggled to find a doctor willing to take the job on.

This was blamed on the pressures and demands of running a practice single-handed but the post was made more attractive by the news a part-time GP would be appointed to share the workload.

Nurse executive Sarah Healey said: "The purpose of the Whitehawk scheme is to make it easier for people in the area to use their local GP by setting up the right kind of services for them.

"We are delighted to have Luis Rodrigues in post and we now have funding to employ a second, part-time GP, to work with him.

"This means we can make a real start in planning for better health care in Whitehawk."

Dr Rodrigues has worked in the NHS for seven years.