A NEW £3 million centre set to improve the health and wellbeing of children and the elderly is taking shape in Bradford.

The Wolfson Centre for Applied Health Research is being built at Bradford Royal Infirmary and brings together researchers from the Universities of Leeds and Bradford with clinicians from Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

It has been made possible thanks to a £1m award from national charity the Wolfson Foundation, which gives grants to support and promote excellence in the fields of science, medicine, the arts and humanities, education and health and disability.

The first brick has now officially been laid and the centre, which will focus on child health, healthy ageing and high quality and safe care, is due to open in spring next year.

The new building will host the Centre for Ageing and the National Institute for Health Research’s National Patient Safety Centre. Its work around child health will include the ground-breaking ‘Born in Bradford’ and its ‘Better Start’ cohorts.