AFTER forty years of searching for funds, Bishop Auckland has finally got the go-ahead to build its new £67m general hospital.

Denise Potter, head of commissioning and service review, and Julie Oliver, communications manager, spoke to pupils from St John's RC Comprehensive School about the changes which are being made.

The new three-floor hospital will have 347 beds and will include four operating theatres and special wards for babies, children and teenagers, so they can be around people of the same age.

Parents will also be able to stay with sick children, because over-night rooms have been provided with single beds and showers and toilets.

All beds on the children's ward will have pull-out-bunks for parents who would prefer to stay by their child's side.

Another feature will be a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

This machine is so big that a wall will have to be left out for the time being, so it can be fitted into the building.

The scanner enables doctors to see inside patients, making diagnosis a lot easier.

The hospital also has a budget of £4m to buy equipment for use in the wards and theatres.

The old hospital will be demolished to make room for parking space and four courtyards which will include a mosaic, stone carvings, and a water feature, which will, hopefully, provide a home for the hospital's 25-year-old koi carp

The hospital will be completed around August 2002.