Deputy Prime Minister visits Rotherham

Denis MacShane looks at plans for the new Breathing Space centre with the Deputy Prime Minister, Rt Hon John Prescott and Health Minister, Rosie Winterton on the Badsley Moor Lane site during a visit on Friday 24 March 2006

Denis MacShane welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister and Health Minister Rosie Winterton to a site visit of the Breathing Space centre. The new £10 million centre being built on the site of the former Badsley Moor Lane Hospital will offer help to ex-miners and other people suffering serious chest diseases.

MacShane said “It was great to welcome the Deputy Prime Minister to Rotherham to visit the site of this fantastic new centre. I know that many people from Rotherham and other mining communities around the country will benefit from the services to be offered by the Breathing Space centre.”

The Breathing Space centre is being built by a partnership between the Coalfields Regeneration Trust and Rotherham Primary Care Trust and is backed by Rotherham Council. The centre is expected to treat as many as 1,600 patients a year and will eventually operate the largest respiratory rehabilitation programme in the country and will rank alongside international leaders in its field by offering tailor-made intermediate care in a non-medical setting.

Denis MacShane chats to Wilma Abbott with Deputy Prime Minister Rt Hon John Prescott MP and Health Minister Rosie Winterton about the new Breathing Space centre