BLACKBURN’S new £21million health centre is a world away from most people’s idea of a local GP surgery.

The five-storey gleaming building has more in common with a top-class hotel, with comfy chairs and works of art in waiting areas.

The Barbara Castle Way Health Centre boasts 121 clinical rooms, and will house around 250 health care workers.

And it is home to GP practices, dentists, mental health clinics, sight and hearing clinics, physiotherapy services, a pharmacy, and family drop-in centre.

It is also at the forefront of medical provision, giving access to diagnostics from the latest hi-tech X-ray and scanning equipment, as well as offering space for minor operations, such as vasectomies, previously only available in hospitals.

The centre also includes a separate ‘Everybody’ resource centre for young people, lit up with a rainbow of external lights, which provides services supporting young people’s health and wellbeing, with the help of Brook, Connexions, LifeLine and Job Centre Plus.

These include sexual health, drug and alcohol advice, and emotional and mental health support.

Designed with the help of youngsters working with acclaimed designers, including Will and Sam Boex, famous for their work on the Eden Project, it has a hexagonal theme, running from walls to counters and seating, and handcrafted colourful therapy pods, along with clinical consulting rooms.

Paul Hopley, head of the LIFT funding programme behind the scheme, has overseen the project and ordered around 70,000 individual items for the centre.

He said it was critical the centre belonged to the people of the borough, and explained how images of Blackburn and Darwen, made by artists with the help of community groups, run through the building, from surreal glazed scenes by artist Emily Campbell in the entrance, to Kirsty Brooks’ glass pieces showing the area’s industrial past and landmarks in waiting areas, and Lucy Hall’s kiln-fired stairwell work.

He said: “I think this was important because we wanted to involve local patients and community groups so they have ownership of the building and influence in it.”

The first patients visited the town centre facility, in Simmons Street, yesterday, and all services are due to be in place by November 29.

Most of the existing services at Montague and Larkhill’s Health Centres, including diabetes, treatment room, audiology, special care dentistry, retinal screening, and an integrated musculoskeletal service, are moving to the new facility.

Dr Moodie and Partners’ Oakenhurst Practice moved from Montague on Friday, with Dr Marlborough, Dr Vidi and Dr Harrington’s Montague Practice, and Dr Phillip’s Practice, from Larkhill, set to transfer to the new centre next month.

They will be joined by some services, including ophthalmology and dermatology, currently based at Royal Blackburn Hospital, so patients can access more NHS treatments closer to where they live.

Sir Bill Taylor, chairman of NHS Blackburn with Darwen Care Trust Plus, said: “I’m delighted that this massive 21st Century construction project has come to a conclusion and the people of Blackburn will soon be able to access this fantastic facility.”