THE region's second hospital to be built as part of the controversial private finance initiative (PFI) has finally opened, two months behind schedule.

It had been hoped that the new £67m Bishop Auckland General Hospital would open in April.

But a serious electrical accident in February, which injured two workmen, disrupted plans. As a result, hospital bosses were forced to postpone the opening of the 347-bed hospital while electrical and mechanical modifications were carried out.

The transfer of two surgical wards last weekend marked the first phase of the opening of the hospital. The first patient to be transferred was George Longstaff, of Crook, who has watched the hospital being built but never imagined he would be its first patient.

The new accident emergency department opened yesterday, the entrance to which is off Escomb Road, and the new outpatients department opens on Monday.

When it opens fully - which should be by July 28 - it will provide modern facilities for the people of Bishop Auckland, Weardale and further afield.

The main UK health union, Unison, maintains that PFI hospitals represent poor value for money, a claim strongly denied by the Department of Health.

Its sister hospital in Durham City, the PFI-built University Hospital of North Durham, was built with too few beds.

Because of that lack of capacity and the need to perform more operations, there are proposals to use the Bishop Auckland hospital as a county-wide centre for planned surgery. This will mean that for some acute services, people from the Bishop Auckland area may have to travel to either Darlington Memorial Hospital, or to the Durham hospital.

John Saxby, chief executive of South Durham Health Care NHS Trust, said: "Local people and hospital staff have been dreaming of this day for over 30 years. Now at last we have a 21st Century facility that will secure the long-term future of Bishop Auckland General Hospital.