IT will soon be possible to tour around new developments at Fairfield General Hospital.

The Bury Healthcare NHS Trust board meeting on Tuesday (Oct 10) heard that building work is ahead of schedule with 70 per cent of the mechanical and electrical work completed on the new building for acute services.

The building will house theatres, the radiology department and accident and emergency, amongst other services.

"We will soon be able to conduct tours around it," said director of estates Frank Blackburn. "Progress has been remarkable."

Scaffolding has been removed from the building, decorations and floor layers are on site and external works such as paving and roads to the accident and emergency will soon start. The new main entrance to the hospital is expected to be finished in four months.

The obstetrics site was delayed in August due to roofing problems and the fuel crisis but the contractor is confident the delay can be recovered.

A start was made nine months earlier than planned on the out-patients site, on September 25.

"There has been a rapid start to this project," added Mr Blackburn. "We hope to be finished by April."