An official opening ceremony is being held to mark the completion of Millom Health Centre.
After two years of renovation, the project which has seen the community hospital, Waterloo House GP Surgery and North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) come together under one roof, has been completed.
The official opening is an invitation-only event and will be held on Friday 17 May from 12pm.
Richard Walker, GP Partner at Waterloo House GP Surgery and ICC Clinical Lead for Millom said:
“We’re here to celebrate the official opening of the Millom Health Centre, which brings together a number of services that are important to the Millom area.
“By aligning these organisations, we have strengthened health care services in Millom, and we are proud to have a local health service that is fit for the 21st century.”
The project to renovate and extend the hospital came about when Waterloo House GP Surgery moved into Millom Community Hospital in 2014, as the building they were originally housed in was no longer fit-for-purpose.
Work began in 2017 to ensure that the building was fit to meet the needs of the community.
The driving force behind the project to extend and renovate the building came from the Millom Alliance, which consists of representatives from University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Foundation Trust (UHMBT), Cumbria Partnership Foundation Trust (CPFT), Waterloo House GP Surgery and the community themselves who formed a group known as the Millom Health Action Group.
Dr Walker added: “Since the original alliance work, in addition to securing a fit for purpose building, we have also seen an increase in our staffing levels, which is great as GP and Nurse recruitment and retention is one of our main priorities.
“The local community have really been the driving force behind this project, and we celebrate their passion, enthusiasm and hard work. They really have fought for their health service and this has already made a massive difference to the local community.”