A planning application for a new community hospital in Cockermouth, Cumbria, has been submitted to local authority Allerdale Borough Council. Last November the town experienced severe flooding, and since then a temporary portable cabin-type village on the existing hospital site has been used to house local GP practices.
The Council’s planners will shortly consider the application for a new community hospital designed by Nightingale Associates to replace the existing 100-year-old facility. The new building, being procured by eLIFT Cumbria as part of the NHS Express LIFT programme, will co-locate GP practices in a single building, with additional community and treatment services, as well as replacement facilities for the existing hospital. Inpatient facilities will be single bedroom and designed to “maximise relationships” with the external surroundings and landscape. It is hoped a start can be made on site early next year.
