YORK'S Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital is to close and be replaced by a new private hospital elsewhere in the city.

And new NHS facilities could be developed on the same new site in a move which could help tackle waiting lists at York District Hospital.

The Purey Cust, situated in Precentor Court in the shadow of York Minster, opened as a nursing home at the start of the First World War.

It was built with money collected as a tribute to Dean Purey Cust, Dean of York between 1880 and 1916.

In 1984, it was taken over by Nuffield - Britain's biggest charitable healthcare provider - to enable major alterations to take place to keep up with medical and surgical advances.

But the Evening Press has discovered that Nuffield now intends closing it and building a new private hospital on a different site in a multi-million pound investment.

Nuffield Nursing Homes Trust, the registered charity which owns Nuffield Hospitals, said in a statement it was pleased to confirm that the existing Purey Cust was to be replaced.

"Authorisation has been given for the purchase of a new site," said a spokeswoman.

"The location of that site is as yet undecided."

But the Evening Press understands that one of the locations which has been examined by Nuffield as a potential site is in an area around Wigginton Road - just down the road from York District Hospital.

The spokeswoman said Nuffield wanted to expand facilities in York, but there were difficulties in achieving this within the Purey Cust building.

She said Nuffield was working closely with York NHS Trust on the feasibility of developing NHS facilities on the same site as the new Nuffield hospital.

"Discussions are at an early stage, and the plans for the development of a new private hospital will continue, independently of those discussions."

A spokeswoman for York NHS Trust said it worked closely with Nuffield, but it did not feel it was appropriate at this stage to comment on the new proposals.

The Purey Cust has been used to treat NHS patients since the early 1990s. York Health Authority foot the bill in 1991 for 30 health service patients to undergo eye surgery at the hospital.

Three years ago, York District Hospital chiefs approached the Purey Cust about the possibility of using its operating theatres and nurses to carry out NHS operations to meet tough Government waiting list targets.

The Nuffield spokeswoman said it was too early to say what would happen to the Purey Cust building following its closure.

But it would seem to have excellent potential for commercial re-development, possibly as a hotel or flats.

The first Nuffield Hospital was opened in 1957 and there are now 43 across Britain, treating hundreds of thousands of patients every year - everything from physiotherapy sessions to complex operations.

Updated: 10:54 Wednesday, October 31, 2001