The state-of-the-art £5 million doctors clinic left 'unused' with empty consultation rooms and equipment still unwrapped

A state-of-the-art doctors clinic remains closed without any GPs more than a year after it was built because of ‘contract negotiations’, a Bolton councillor claims.

Work on Little Lever Health Centre, which cost £5 million to build, was completed in December 2021. The 1,206 sqm building features three GP surgeries and 14 consultation rooms alongside a separate library, which opened in February 2022.

But doctor’s have yet to move into the facility and begin treating patients. Independent councillor Sean Hornby said he was ‘annoyed’ with the slow progress after he'd ‘fought like mad’ to secure money for the clinic.

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While some residents are upset with the local council, Sean said he believes the fault lies with local NHS bosses.

He explained: “It’s annoying. Money in any council is very scarce, and we managed to score some money to build this fantastic facility.

“Now, it’s just standing here idle, people are getting fed up about it.

“They think it’s a complete council cock-up. It’s not the council's fault. It’s the health side of it where the problem is.

He added: “It’s just crazy. My GP himself was keen to get into that building.”

Sean, from the local Little Lever & Darcy Lever party, said GPs were meant to move into the clinic within three months of its opening in February 2022.

But he claimed wrangling over doctors' contracts had left the clinic empty after a new NHS health partnership took over the running of local health services in Bolton.

He said: “When the building was finished last year, it was always the intention to let the library move in first.

“It was said at the time when we officially opened, it would take about three