A NEW medical facility for service personnel and families at RAF Leeming is to be opened by the Duchess of Cornwall.

Camilla will tomorrow (Thursday, May 8) meet Station Commander of RAF Leeming Group Captain Stephen Reeves before a visit to the new Station Medical Centre, where she will unveil a plaque to officially open it.

RAF Leeming is home to No 100 Squadron - whose Hawk aircraft undertake a multitude of training tasks - as well as 90 Signals Unit, 2 Force Protection Wing and the Joint Forward Air Control Training and Standardisation Unit.

The duchess will tour the facility and meet medical staff and patients before joining service personnel and their families for lunch in the Officers' Mess, signing the visitors' book and watching a fly past.

The Medical Centre team meets the needs of 2,800 patients, including primary health care and rehabilitation – but the full range of services could not be housed within the old medical centre, resulting in the use of several temporary structure buildings.

Construction on the new £4.9 million building began in August 2012 and was completed in March.

The replacement facility has a gymnasium area which has been configured to meet remedial needs; and it also means wounded or injured personnel can be supported on site throughout their rehabilitation process.

The centre can treat everything from minor sports injuries to more serious traumas incurred as a result of operational duty.

The Station Medical Centre also provides emergency medical cover to the military activities of RAF Leeming during working hours and exercise periods.