Hospital sale to boost services

The sale of three former hospital sites in Lichfield and Burntwood will see cash ploughed back into local health services.

At yesterday's meeting of the South Staffordshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) it was revealed the three former hospital sites were sold for more than £14million.

The PCT received more than £6.7m for the city's Victoria Hospital, £4.3m for Burntwood's Hammerwich Hospital, and £3.5m for land remaining at the former St Michael's Hospital site.

All three sites have gone to property developers with Barratt Homes buying the Victoria site, Persimmon taking over the Hammerwich Hospital and Restful Homes buying the remaining land at the former St Michael's.

The sales represented a £4m surplus for the care trust, having fetched more than their expected market value.

As revealed earlier this week the land sales were a major factor in the PCT plugging a predicted £8.7m overspend.