PLANS for a new £1.5 million health centre in a Blackburn community have been unveiled.

NHS Blackburn with Darwen has submitted a detailed funding application for a GP-led clinic with six consulting rooms and a walk-in centre at the junction of Infirmary Street and Moseley Street.

The centre will help tackle a shortage of doctors and cater for residents brought to the Infirmary area by two separate housing regeneration projects.

Hundreds of homes will be built by a Barret Homes on the site of the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary. Affordable housing group Places for People is transforming neighbouring streets under the Elevate housing market renewal scheme .

Subject to approval from the council and NHS North West, building work on the health centre is set to begin in the first weeks of 2009, with the centre taking its first patients by July that year.

Health bosses are still deciding on exactly which facilities will be provided, but after consultations with doctors, nurses and patients they are considering adding an NHS dental surgery and podiatry clinic as well as the standard GP and nurse cover.

No firm decisions have yet been made regarding which doctors will move into the unit, but the two nearest practices, Dr Pollock at the St George’s Surgery, Haslingden Road, and Dr Jadhav in Bolton Road and have both been in talks with the trust over operating “branch surgeries” in the new centre.

The local NHS received extra money from the government this year to increase its medical cover, after studies showed East Lancashire had a shortage of GPs.

The planned Infimary surgery will support the £10 million major health centre off Barbara Castle Way, where construction is set to begin early next year.

The Infirmary Street centre will be a “first” for the PCT, as it will be built off-site in a modular construction, with specialist building experts keeping an eye on the project. It will have room for a second-storey extension if it is needed in the future.

Paul Hinnigan, director of finance at NHS Blackburn with Darwen, said: “This proposed new development will meet a real health care need in the new housing regeneration area, as well as providing extra GPs in state of the art health care facilities.

“It will mean more people will be able to access a whole range of health care services locally and is another significant step forward for NHS Blackburn with Darwen in our aim to provide better, more easily accessible services for our local population. We are really excited about this project and look forward to it being built early next year.”