THE new £21million community health facility in Blackburn town centre is to be called Barbara Castle Way Health Centre.

Building work in Simmons Street is on schedule with services due to start moving in next month and its doors set to open at the end of October.

Barbara Castle Way was suggested when the public were invited to submit name ideas for the new health centre in April.

Existing services at Montague and Larkhill’s health centres, including diabetes, treatment room, audiology, special care dentistry, retinal screening and an integrated musculoskeletal service, will move to the new facility.

They will be joined by other services including ophthalmology and dermatology, currently based at Royal Blackburn Hospital.

Dr Thomas Phillips’s practice in Larkhill will transfer to the new centre, while Dr Shivaji Jadhav’s branch will move to a new location.

The centre is part of an NHS Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus strategy to create a convenient ‘one stop shop’ for health that is easier for patients from across the borough to access.

Sir Bill Taylor, Care Trust Plus chairman, said: “I’m delighted that we now have a name.

“With the building work progressing at such an impressive rate things are really coming together now.

“The new health centre will bring an impressive range of health services right into the heart of the town and will play a vital role in improving health and wellbeing in the borough.”

The building is within walking distance of the town’s bus and train stations and will be serviced by a new bus stop.

There will be a 61-space patient car park, with accessible parking bays and a drop-off zone, which will allow access directly into the health centre via lifts and stairs.