Land sought for new Finchley hospital

7:32pm Wednesday 16th March 2005

Finchley Memorial Hospital is set to become bigger and better' under plans revealed by Barnet's Primary Care Trust (PCT) this week.

Hospital bosses are currently negotiating the purchase of playing fields next to the site on Granville Road, Finchley, and hope to put forward the plans to build a new hospital on the land by this summer.

The new hospital would provide more services in a modern environment, and help to absorb Barnet's growing population.

Up to 85,000 people are expected to move to Barnet in the next ten to 15 years, and infrastructure will need to improve to cope with the extra demand.

"It's an old hospital, and we have found that good buildings and infrastructure get patients better quicker," said a spokeswoman for the PCT.

"It is also in response to the population growth in Barnet.

"It is growing and some of our facilities are not necessarily growing with it."

The PCT recently reopened its Edgware Community Hospital, which had been transformed at a cost of £40 million from one of the country's dirtiest hospitals to a state-of-the-art building.

If the proposals get the go-ahead, the new Finchley centre would be built along the same lines with specialist units and services for the community.

"We are looking at making it bigger and better. It would be a community hospital like Edgware," said the spokeswoman.