An extension to provide extra beds at Wigan Infirmary has been given the green light by the town hall.
Hospital bosses had applied for permission to build a single-storey addition to the existing Pemberton ward and outpatient clinic.
The extension will only provide a handful of extra beds, according to a planning report, but will also offer an additional storage room and toilet facilities.
The approval from council officers comes weeks after an NHS review of bed numbers at the Infirmary warned of a shortfall next year due to rising demand, if action is not taken.
A separate health service report from earlier this year revealed ‘unprecedented demand’ for the town’s A&E department saw other hospital units had recently being used to plug gaps.
Hospital bosses have previously said they are ‘working with partners’ to allay the capacity concerns.
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The single storey extension will not have an impact on the main hospital building’s listed status or on the wider Wigan Lane conservation area, officers have decided.
“The proposed extension would see improved health facilities on a site already given over for use as a hospital,” the report reads.
However, although no objections have been registered, highways officers have suggested the hospital should review its car parking provision.
“The hospital has been steadily increasing in size in a piecemeal fashion over the past 20 years or so, which (individually) each incremental expansion has not meant a significant increased demand for additional car parking,” the report reads.
“But, when all combined they have led to significant parking issues for the surrounding residential areas. The hospital should take proper stock of its current car parking provision, and to assess its current demand for parking for both staff and visitors.”
Permission was granted in August last year for a four-storey extension to the hospital’s Endoscopy Unit.
