A £3.25M health centre has opened to the public - the latest facility to be unveiled in a £6m project to improve healthcare in Darlington.

The Park Place Health Centre replaces an outdated centre next door, which has been demolished to form a car park.

The centre has been created by the town's Primary Care Trust (PCT), and is modelled on the trust's successful walk-in centre in King Street. It houses a GP surgery and health centre, and there are several treatment rooms, family planning consultation rooms, and an audiology suite to test and treat hearing loss.

Community dental services are based there alongside the PCT's dental practice.

All clinical facilities are on the ground floor to maximise access for disabled and elderly people. The first floor provides office space for administrative staff.

It was opened by Darlington MP Alan Milburn.

Park Place is one of three health schemes designed to revitalise primary care services in Darlington.

In January last year, thewalk-in clinic opened on the ground floor of the headquarters of Darlington PCT at Dr Piper House.

A rehabilitation centre for elderly people is also close to completion in Hundens Lane.

The Park Place centre has been hailed as a boost for the town by health professionals and by Mr Milburn.

He said: "People want to be treated in the community in primary care where it is accessible. It is also much better for the staff who work here to be in such a nice environment. It is a welcoming and flexible facility which will make a huge difference for generations to come, ensuring patients have the highest possible quality of care."

Colin Morris, PCT chief executive, said: "The facility reflects a lot of insight and thoughtfulness in design, which can only improve standards of care in the town, and it is something of which we can all be justifiably proud."

Darlington PCT chairman Sandra Pollard said it was a privilege for the town to have such a good facility. "It shows just how far we have developed as a PCT over the past four years," she said.