The second wave of new health centres in the district are nearing completion and set to transform the way services are delivered to thousands of patients.

In just a matter of months NHS staff will be preparing to move out of cramped and ageing accommodation and into facilities fit for the 21st century.

Surgeries in Barkerend, Undercliffe and Thornbury are all part of the second wave of schemes by Bradford and Airedale Care Partnerships Ltd, the Local Improvement Finance Trust (Lift), a public/private partnership, with the projects being delivered by Accent.

Undercliffe Medical Centre, at Lowther Street, off Undercliffe Old Road, is due for completion in January, when it will become home to Peel Park Surgery and the patients of Dr Gupta and Otley Road Medical Centre, and the patients of Dr Sania Rafaquat and Dr Aysha El-Syed.

Practice staff have been involved in the planning of the new £4.5million three-storey building from the start and are looking forward to moving in.

There will be separate receptions and waiting areas for each practice, an on-site pharmacy, consulting rooms and practice nurse treatment rooms.

The lower ground floor will be occupied by staff from Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, with out-patients clinics, minor surgery, speech and language therapy, podiatry, mental health services, midwives and health visitors.

The building - designed by Keith Drummond-Brassington, director of Nuttall Yarwood and Partners Ltd, of Burley-in-Wharfedale - also benefits from wide corridors and roof lights, giving the building a bright and airy feel, full disabled access and under-floor heating.

All pipe work in the treatment rooms is hidden away to improve hygiene and help infection control and the rooms have mechanical ventilation. The speech and language therapy rooms even have special insulation to improve the service.

Community artwork will be installed to further improve the environment and staff-rooms enjoy stunning views across the valley.

The first floor is empty and will be used as expansion space.

Frances Berry, practice manager for Otley Road Medical Centre, is part of the user group.

"It is going to offer better working conditions for all of us and we are hoping that we will be able to offer patients a wider range of services and not just health services but also support services such as benefit advice," she said.

"We are looking forward to moving in because we have been working in cramped conditions for many years."

The health centre has been built on a brown field site and project manager for Accent, James Howarth, said nearby residents had also welcomed the development of the site, which meets Secured by Design standards.

"The project started last September and is due for completion on December 10," he said. "There will then be four weeks to fit out the building and it opens in January."

The main contractor on the site is J S Bramleys, of Leeds and despite the dreadful weather of recent months the steel-framed construction has gone up on schedule.