YORK is to get a new hospital, packed with state-of-the-art medical equipment. This is particularly good news for the private patients who are treated at the Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital. But it should also be welcomed by NHS patients.

For the best part of a century, the Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital has enjoyed a reputation in York for providing high quality care.

Built in the shadows of the Minster and the First World War, it has proved to be a permanent tribute to Arthur Purey Cust, who became Dean of York more than 120 years ago.

Under the stewardship of the Nuffield charitable group, its good name has been maintained and built on. This summer, the Purey Cust Nuffield Hospital earned the prestigious certificate of Health Quality Service.

Now Nuffield wants to take it into a new era by building a multi-million pound hospital elsewhere in the city.

Already talks are underway between the charity and the York NHS Trust about sharing the facilities to cut down health service waiting lists.

This is in the well-established tradition of partnership between the Purey Cust and York District Hospitals.

For ten years NHS patients have undergone surgery in the private hospital. It has proved to be a fruitful relationship for both the public and private healthcare sectors.

York District Hospital bosses will be keen to make the most of the new facilities. Although built only 25 years ago, the hospital struggles to cope with the demands placed on it by medical advances and higher patient expectations.

A new NHS hospital for York has been ruled out, so the YDH can only expand its services within the confines of the present site. To be able to send patients to a new hospital will offer health managers greater flexibility when it comes to cutting the waiting lists.

That should see patients being treated more quickly, an outcome we can all support.

Magical kingdom

FROM the outside it looks like a normal York suburban garden. But inside, it is an ever-changing magical kingdom.

First it hosted the city's smallest museum. More recently, visitors could watch a film show in a high-tech cinema built in the garden shed. And now they can thrill at the dinosaurs in York's newest park - Jurassic Park.

The architect of the kingdom is student Andrew Simpson. He wants to create special effects for Hollywood blockbusters.

It is clear that he has more than enough imagination and talent.

We cannot wait to see what occurs after Andrew has seen Harry Potter.

Updated: 12:13 Wednesday, October 31, 2001