WORK starts at the end of this month on a £7 million scheme to extend Wellesley Hospital on the outskirts of Wellington.

Montpelier Estates, which built the hospital at Westpark 26, Chelston, will be carrying out the work on the new 30-bedroom care and treatment facility on land next to the existing building.

The plan is to provide a rehabilitation hospital on 1.2 acres of land across the road from the hospital’s car park and behind the Budgen’s convenience store and petrol filling station.

It will be a low-secure mental healthcare facility creating 45 full-time equivalent jobs on top of 200 jobs at Wellesley Hospital.

It will accommodate people with learning difficulties and mental health issues, providing them with a feeling of being ‘at home’.

n The Wellesley Hospital was built at a cost of £20 million and opened in May, 2017.

The hospital enables mentally ill patients to return to the South-West from hospitals all over the country and support them towards independence.

The extension will provide a further boost to Chelston which has created hundreds of new jobs in recent years, helped by its proximity to the M5.