NOW that the replacement Wharfedale Hospital in Otley is nearly finished, all those who fought to keep it in the town can breathe a sigh of relief.

In just eight weeks on Monday, the first departments will start moving across to the new £15 million, state of the art hospital. Many staff, including doctors and nurses, have already started spending time in the new building, familiarising themselves with where everything is to make sure the gradual turn over will be as smooth as possible.

By November 8, it is planned that the new hospital will be fully operational - no mean feat considering the devastating arson attack in July last year that put the opening date back by three months.

Other Private Finance Initiative (PFI) built buildings have been criticised as lacking in quality, but Leeds health trust leaders are more than satisfied with the quality of the hospital - as are its independent assessors.

Uniquely for a Leeds hospital, Wharfedale has brightly coloured walls - no magnolia or dirty cream for the new Otley hospital. Instead, a carefully chosen colour scheme, based on flowers local to Wharfedale, feature in different floors and departments. The colours, heather, campion and foxglove, will also be repeated in the names of the spacious and comfortable wards.

Designers of the new hospital have been able to look to the mistakes made by old hospitals and learn by them - as a result, the new Wharfedale has been designed with the patient in mind, and not the demands of the doctors and surgeons.

Consulting rooms are sound proofed, so patients can't be overheard, and getting around will be much easier - thanks to the carefully designed separate entrances and properly managed car park.

It's been a long time in the planning and over decades the original aim of the hospital has changed, but now in a very short time Otley will have its new hospital - and it's been worth waiting for.