A NEW building seven years in the making that provides new facilities and services to patients of Okehampton Medical Centre was officially opened on Saturday.

The New Memorial Centre houses a dispensary, waiting area, five consulting rooms and a treatment room. There is also additional staff facilities, including a meeting room.

The additional building also offers the centre the chance to expand as the population of Okehampton increases and patient numbers rise.

It was opened on Saturday by the former matron of the Okehampton District Memorial Hospital Eileen Davey, assisted by Central Devon MP Mel Stride and Okehampton mayor Cllr Rev Mike Davies

The project cost around £1 million to complete.

The building has been operational for the last month, and staff have used the time to try and overcome initial teething problems, such as communication between the two buildings.

The centre has been in the pipeline for seven years, and the driving force behind the project has been Alison Shelton, practice, dispensary and finance manager for the medical centre.

She said: 'It has been a long time coming. For me, I was beginning to wonder if I would ever see it before I retired.

'It is hugely satisfying, and the partners are really pleased with it as well.

'Initially there were mixed feelings among the partners, particularly those who had been here longer that had known the old building and worked in it as the hospital.

'They are all delighted with it, and pleased to be offering hopefully a nicer environment for the patients.'

As well as providing more consultation rooms and an expanded dispensary, the new building has already provided accomm-odation for associated health care professionals, including the drugs and alcohol team, and counsellors.

The centre is in conversation with the cancer charity FORCE about whether they could use the facilities offered by the new building.

It stands on the site of the old memorial hospital, opposite the existing medical centre building. The centre's partners purchased the hospital building from the Primary Care Trust after Okehampton Community Hospital opened in 2004.

Many options were considered to redevelop the site, but it was eventually decided the most viable option was to construct a new building on the footprint of the previous hospital.

The old building was demolished in 2012 to make way for the new building.

Okehampton mayor Cllr the Rev Mike Davies said: 'Congratulations to the partners of the medical centre for having the confidence and the vision to see through the completion of the wonderful new building on their site.

'The building is a fantastic addition to the centre, and will ensure the centre can help cope with an increase in demand as the population of the town grows, and provide us all with more services and facilities.'

Initially, the new building will not lead to the creation of any new jobs, though as the centre expands this could change due to higher demand.

An important aspect of the new building is to commemorate the old hospital that stood on the site.

During the demolition of the old building earlier this year, the memorial stone and the lintel from above the main door were saved, with the intention to place them in a new memorial garden.

A stone laid by Lady Clinton on May 27 1925, that lay hidden for the best part of a century before it was unearthed during the demolition process, has also been added to the garden.

'We realise how important the old hospital was to the community', said Alison Shelton.

'We want it to be an area for people to sit and enjoy.

'The lintel above the door, the original memorial stone and the stone we found when we demolished the old building are all there, and there is a planting scheme for around the area.

'We are going to get some benches to go up there as well.'