Plans to demolish an asbestos-riddled hospital in Derbyshire and install a new £2.5 million health unit in its place have been given the go-ahead.
Heanor Memorial Hospital has been shut since September 2014, after asbestos dust was found in a boiler room in a routine inspection.
The closure meant clinics and services needed to be temporarily moved to Ilkeston Community Hospital, with bosses at the NHS Southern Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group saying they were trying to determine the “best way forward” for the hospital. It is thought that the new install could take around two years.
The NHS Southern Derbyshire governing body, which is the group in charge of buying and overseeing healthcare for 525,000 people living in Derby, Amber Valley and the southern part of the UK, has given the go-ahead for the proposal.
Andy Layzell, the body’s chief officer said: “We’ve put an enormous amount of work into these plans – trying to get people’s opinions and understand what they want from start to finish. And we continue to work with people as the new health centre is being designed and built.
“They feel an enormous amount of attachment for the old hospital, and we respect that, but the feedback on these plans has been very positive and we’re so grateful and impressed by the way local people have been involved in this process.”
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