PLANS to build a £2.3 million extension to the maternity unit at Salisbury District Hospital have been given the go-ahead.
The maternity services undertake about 2,500 deliveries a year and this is expected to increase to 3,000 by 2020 as thousands of soldiers and their families are re-based from Germany to Salisbury Plain over the next two to three years.
It is expected about 4,000 serving personnel and 6,000 dependents will be within the hospital service’s catchment area.
The current single-storey 1940’s building which houses the maternity unit is too small to cope with the increase.
The plans involve building a two-storey building for three birthing rooms, ancillary accommodation and admin offices and a link to the existing maternity building. Recent mothers have helped in the design of the new building.
It was approved by council officers on June 14 and the hospital plans to go out to tender early next year.
The building work is expected to start next year with it expected to be in use in 2019.
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