Carlisle ‘may get new private hospital’

Carlisle may soon benefit from a new private hospital, if planning permission is granted by the city council.

Councillors are set to consider plans at a meeting in December 2009 which, if approved, would see building work commence next year.

The hospital would be located on the former Abbey Caldew Hospital site in Dalston Road, with a new three-storey construction complete with three operating theatres replacing the existing building.

At present, the hospital employs just 12 staff, but the new facility would have up to 60 people on its lists and would provide up to 22 private hospital beds.

Val Holliday, manager of Caldew Hospitals, told the News and Star: “At the moment, both private and NHS patients are having to leave the area for care, so we’re trying to bring work to the area so that patients will not have to travel 60 miles to Newcastle for treatment.”

The hospital currently provides a range of services, including cosmetic surgery, diagnostic imaging and drug and alcohol treatment.