THE woman who will oversee the building of an £8m private hospital in County Durham has been appointed.

Sue Maycroft will act as liaison for the construction and development of The Woodlands Hospital, in Darlington.

Work has already begun on the £8.1m hospital at Morton Park, Yarm Road, and it is expected that the first patients will be admitted next year.

As medical administrator, Mrs Maycroft, of Richmond, North Yorkshire, will liaise with architect Michael Corbett and Totty Construction on behalf of Woodlands Healthcare, a firm of local consultants which has raised money for the development.

"I already know many of the consultants involved so I realise the hospital will be run in the best interests of the patients who use it," she said.

The Woodlands Hospital will be the first private hospital of its kind in County Durham, with 42 beds.

The new medical centre will have its own high-dependency unit, allowing the hospital to be self-sufficient if a medical emergency arises.

It will house two operating theatres, an out-patients unit and an advanced MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner.

The hospital will also be equipped with an intensive care bed, which could be used at a later stage for open heart surgery.