GP surgery finally connected

THE final piece of a frustrating jigsaw ended months of uncertainty over a new Saddleworth health centre.

Workman connected vital IT and telephone links to the new Delph medical practice in Gartside Street, which has lain idle for months.

Following intervention by the Chronicle, the surgery could open in days and support 5,000 patients in Delph and its surrounding villages.

The centre was completed in July, but problems with the installation of communications cabling delayed its opening potentially to the new year. After the Chronicle contacted BT, a temporary cable was installed and the cause of the delay - a minimum notice period for closing the road to lay cable - was reduced so the cable could be laid almost immediately