A NEW walk-in health centre planned for Darlington is set to be bigger than first planned.

Darlington Primary Care Trust's £1m headquarters will be based at Dr Piper House, in King Street, and is due to open in December.

The trust's latest board meeting heard that the centre would be larger and offer more services than originally proposed.

It will open every day of the year, from 7am until 10pm, offering treatments and advice for minor injuries and ailments.

It is anticipated that nurse-led clinics will deal with between 80 and 100 patients a day on a walk-in basis.

The centre will complement services offered in the Memorial Hospital's accident and emergency department and GP practices.

The ground floor will also provide a home for the town's skin and minor surgery clinics, and specialist services for diabetes and asthma.

Darlington's director of primary care Carole Harder said the centre would have a major impact, offering an alternative to existing services and increasing access, particularly to people who would normally have to take time off work to access primary care.

Trust chairman Sandra Pollard said: "It will be a phenomenal area, full of activity and is an exciting prospect."