THE Chapel of the Good Samaritan at the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough, is to be extended as part of the programme to develop the Marton Road base into a single-site hospital serving the Teesside community.

It is estimated that hundreds of visitors have passed through the chapel doors to chat to the team of chaplains, attend a service or just to spend some quiet time there.

By next year, a new department of spiritual care and chaplaincy will stand in its place following extensive consultation with patients, visitors, staff and the wider community.

Trust chaplain the Reverend Philip Carrington, said: "The current chapel is too small, there is insufficient office space for the chaplains or for counselling, plus there is no room for meetings with visitors. Also we had no specific provision for faiths other than Christian.

"The single site development provided us with the ideal opportunity to expand the chapel so we went out and talked to people about what they would like and a new design was created.

"We hope to be in the new complex by Easter 2003 and would ask everyone to pray that we get it right."

A temporary chapel has been established close to the volunteers' coffee shop and will continue to be open 24-hours-a-day.