A £4.5 million state-of-the-art health centre is opening its doors to patients in Shipley on Monday.

Shipley Health Centre, a three-storey health centre, has been built on the site of the former Shipley health centre in Alexandra Road.

Practice staff are spending the weekend moving in to the new building from their temporary premises at Park View Court and the portable buildings on the car park in St Paul's Road.

Practice manager Paula Guiry said: "We feel very fortunate to have these wonderful facilities and are really looking forward to moving in and having all our staff together on one site.

"It will provide us with the space we need to expand our services and we will be considering how best to use it for real benefits to our communities in the future.

"We are also really keen for our patients to be involved in the development of the centre and to hear any of their feedback on the new facilities."

The centre has been developed by Apollo Capital Projects who are leasing the building to the practice's seven GPs and one GP registrar.

It will house five practice nurses, three district nurses, a healthcare assistant, health visitor and children's nurse.

The building features a large reception area, an operating theatre for the treatment of minor injuries, 23 consulting rooms, a suite for a range of clinics such as ante-natal and diabetic, a dedicated breast feeding room and a health education room.

One of the floors will be used by health teams from Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, such as podiatry and speech therapy and there will also be an area for patients with special dental needs.

It has been designed to be environmentally-friendly with solar panels on the roof, a bike store for staff and cycle racks for patients.

It has full disabled access, a pharmacy attached to the building and a roof terrace which staff can use during their lunch break.

The practice also offers training to five medical students and a registrar.

Specialist services include a drugs misuse programme, a drop-in sexual health clinical on Thursday evenings between 5.30pm and 7.30pm and Shipley Young People's Project.

That involves workers visiting school to raise awareness and offer advice on a whole range of issues from sexual advice to stopping smoking and coping with family problems Richard Drew, development director of Apollo Capital Projects, said: "We are delighted with the successful completion of this new facility which will be an excellent addition to the rapidly expanding Apollo property portfolio in Yorkshire.

"We have thoroughly enjoyed working together with the practice, who can now look forward to expanding their services for the benefit of their patients and the wider Shipley community.

"We are very proud of this new building which is a magnificent replacement of the former building providing a modern and welcome environment for all its users and visitors."

John Chuter, chairman of Bradford and Airedale Teaching Primary Care Trust, said: "This new centre will provide an excellent central base for health, social care and other agencies to work more closely together to provide the best possible services for the people of Shipley."