HEALTH minister John Hutton donned a hard hat and overalls to officially lay the date stone in Ulverston's new £4.6 million health centre.

Toting a ceremonial trowel, the Furness MP slotted the stone into the rapidly-rising walls of the Primary Care Resource Centre at Stanley Street on Friday.

He said: "People often say to me, we are spending all this extra money in the National Health Service, where's it all going?' This is where it's going! On building new health facilities for the 21st century.

"For us in Ulverston, this is not only a new home for GPs, it will help in the future to provide a new range of services clustered where people in Ulverston need them, rather than asking them to go to Furness General Hospital. We have got a fantastic facility here."

The new build is on the site of the old Victorian Ulverston Hospital which was largely demolished in November last year.

When it is finished next Spring the ground floor will offer a new outpatient department, a physiotherapy department and an x-ray and ultrasound facility.

The GPs from the Ulverston Health Centre will also be taking up residence in bespoke facilities upstairs. As well as their own surgeries there will be practice rooms for nurses and a facility for minor operations. A district nurse and community health visitor will also use the new centre as a base.