General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

Owd Codger

When the Blair government introduced the choice agenda into the NHS it led to expectant mothers on the Leigh side of Wigan opting to have their babies at the Bolton hospital. Similarly the ones on the Billinge side were opting for St. Helens. Geographically Billinge is in the wrong place for an acute hospital to serve Wigan and Leigh.
Twenty years ago Arthur Silcock offered the Bellingham site to the Royal Albert as a car park. His asking price was £250,000. It was deemed to expensive.
Insofar as building at Martland Mill is concerned I don’t know. However, it must be 35 years since Sandy Bradbury the lead campaigner for the new hospital for Wigan and Leigh announced the chosen site in Hindley.
At Wigan the A and E , diagnostics , maternity and cardiac catheter buildings are new. The outpatient building at the old Grammar school was remodelled to a new standard. Other parts have also been rebuilt so it’s more Elizabethan than Victorian.