The Mayor of Witham has made an impassioned call for a walk-in emergency medical centre to be created in the vacant buildings of the town's Bridge Hospital.
Keiron Boylan (Lab, Chipping Hill) called for the walk-in emergency medical centre at a meeting of Braintree Council regulatory committee last night
Committee members were discussing proposals put forward by the North Essex Health Authority to include listed hospital buildings at the hospital in Bridge Street, Witham, within the site area already designated for future residential development in the Braintree district draft plan.
Bridge Hospital is due to close completely in March 2003 and the proposals state the grade II listed buildings, could be converted to 30 flats and houses, bringing the total number of homes which could be placed on the site to 229.
But Mr Boylan suggested the buildings could be used for a walk-in emergency medical centre for Witham, currently served by the accident and emergency unit at Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford.
Mr Boylan said: "Is there not a possibility of making use of the buildings for the benefit of the people of Witham, which is a large growing town?
"They could be used for a walk-in emergency medical centre, because for a lot of people in Witham, Broomfield Hospital is a long way off, and we could use the buildings for the benefit of the people of the town and the surrounding area."
Published Thursday October 17, 2002
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