Builders have started work on a long-awaited £1m medical centre at Wilsden.

It will replace the Townfield surgery and is expected to be ready for use in July 2000.

The state-of-the-art centre on Wellington Road will comprise eight consulting suites and contain facilities for chiropody, physiotherapy and minor surgery.

Accommodation will be available for visiting hospital consultants to conduct outpatient clinics and also for the primary health care team and administration staff.

Doctors using the centre will include Drs Maurice Brown, Jan Lee, Mark Purvis, Andy Wilson, Eleanor Bramwell and Julie Patterson.

Dr Purvis said the new centre would be a bonus for the people of Wilsden.

He said: "Our current premises were built in the 1960s and are cramped and outdated. We are looking forward to moving into a new building fit for the 21st century." John Hearnshaw, senior planning manager for Bradford Health Authority, has worked with the doctors to plan the centre.

He said: "Because the hi-tech hospital of the 21st century will have shorter in-patient stays, we have to make sure that bigger and better buildings are available in the community for the larger range of procedures which will, in future, be provided outside a hospital setting.

"The new centre at Wilsden forms part of a chain of such developments in and around Bradford which, together, will enable a wide range of treatment to be given nearer to patients' homes.

"This will give better value for money as well as being more convenient for patients."

Martin Harrison, chairman of Wilsden Village Society, which was consulted over the choice of site, said: "We are pleased that plans for a new state-of-the-art medical centre have come to fruition.

"We have worked closely with the doctors to find a central site for the building. Wellington Road is close to bus stops and other village amenities."

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