Revealed: First stage of Littlehampton Hospital replacement

However, the disused, overgrown site in Fitzalan Road of the old hospital, demolished in 2005, won’t be the location.

Instead, the former Body Shop headquarters building at Wick, next to the Morrisons supermarket, will house the first phase of the new facilities.

Phase one of the scheme will see the Arun Medical Group’s GP surgeries at East Street, Littlehampton and Sea Road, East Preston, take over one-third of the old Body Shop offices.

In the second phase there will be more NHS services such as outpatient clinics and possibly mental health and sexual health services, though the location for this has not been confirmed yet.

Freeing up the East Preston practice premises also opens up the possibility of Rustington’s Lawns Surgery relocating there, leaving behind its cramped temporary building in the grounds of Zachary Merton Hospital.

The Coastal West Sussex Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), now running the area’s NHS services, is working with both practices on the first phase, and its officers are also drawing up detailed plans for the second stage, to provide many of the facilities which would have been included in the new hospital, although without in-patient beds.

For the full story, read this week’s Littlehampton Gazette, out from Thursday, February 13.