ACCRINGTON’S second major new health centre is nearing completion – and members of the public have been invited to get a sneak preview of  the state-of-the-art facility in a series of hour-long tours.

The stylish Acorn Primary Health Care Centre on Blackburn Road, just out of the town centre, is taking shape, ready to open early in the New Year.

And on Tuesday 18 December members of the public are invited to see it for themselves as the finishing-off process gets into gear.

Eight tours are planned to take the public round the building, which will be run by the East Lancashire Primary Care Trust. They will take place at  9.30am, 10am, 11am, 11.30am, 1.30pm, 2pm, 3pm and 3.30pm. No booking is required; people can just turn up.

The name Acorn was chosen following the time-honoured tradition that surrounds the name Accring-ton, which is said to mean “settlement round the oak trees”.

The town already has several roads and place names with “oak” in the title, there is the Acorn Trail for walkers to follow, and soon Hyndburn will have the Oak House Dental Education Centre, yet another PCT investment in the area.

The Trust has spent a whopping £17M on community health provision in Hyndburn, with the £7.5M Accrington Pals Primary Health Care Centre on Paradise Street currently being opened on a phased basis.

The Acorn Health Centre will begin to house community health facilities from the second week of January, with more and more services being brought out of hospital settings.

Victoria Robertson, Director of Corporate Services, said: “Everyone is excited by the prospect of our second new community health centre being brought into use for the public of Hyndburn.

“We know that there is great public interest in the services and the new premises, and that lots of people will want to have a sneak preview of what is coming their way.

“Our tours around the Paradise Street centre were immensely successful. Everyone who came was impressed by the building, the quality of the finish and the facilities ready to be unveiled for public use.

“The aim is to bring more and more services nearer to people’s homes so that they don’t necessarily have to travel to Blackburn or Burnley. The closer to home the service, the easier it is for Hyndburn people to access it.”

l More than 250 people toured the Accrington Pals Health Centre and health officials were delighted by the public response and the appreciative comments.

 East Lancashire PCT’s project leader Christine Gregory said: “It was heart-warming to hear the positive response from members of the public. It makes it all worthwhile when you know the public appreciates the efforts being made on their behalf.”