Portable surgeries for flood town

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Temporary GP surgeries are being made available in parts of Cumbria which were hit be devastating floods.

Portable buildings for two surgeries in Cockermouth will replace those destroyed by flooding last month.

They will provide pre-fabricated consulting rooms and office space for the town's Derwent House and South Street GP practices.

More than 20 building-modules are being dropped into place by a crane over the weekend and into Monday.

Since the floods the surgeries, which serve 15,000 patients, have operated from Cockermouth community hospital.

The move to new temporary buildings will enable normal outpatient clinics and other services to begin again at the hospital.

The new two-storey temporary buildings are expected to be open for patients before Christmas.

Extra space

More than 20 lorries are moving the building-modules into a site next to the hospital, which has already been excavated and foundations laid.

Dr John Howarth of NHS Cumbria said: "The move to temporary buildings will create much-needed extra space for GPs' patients and enable Cockermouth community hospital to begin operating outpatient clinics again.

"Over the coming weeks, we will be working to try to fast-track existing plans for Cockermouth's new community hospital which will provide a permanent, state-of-the-art home for GP and health services in the town."

A policeman died and hundreds of people were made homeless in the floods, which hit Cockermouth, Workington and Keswick as well as a host of smaller communities.

So far, more than £1m has been raised for victims of the flooding.