The largest provider of out-of-hospital NHS services in Huddersfield has confirmed it has purchased the Princess Royal Health Centre.

And Locala says existing services, including sexual health and dentistry, will continue at the 88-year-old centre which began as a maternity hospital.

The site was bought for an undisclosed sum from Calderdale and Huddersfield Foundation Trust (CHFT) which runs Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital, Halifax.

Whilst many of the plans for Princess Royal are still in the early stages Locala has confirmed that children’s therapy services currently delivered there by CHFT will continue.

Dental, sexual health, diabetes, TB nursing and podiatry services currently provided by Locala will also continue to operate from the centre.

More services, currently provided by Locala, are likely to be moved to the three-acre site next year.

Locala’s executive director of finance, Sharon Lowrie, said: “We are delighted to have bought Princess Royal and thereby secure its future.

“Locala provides several services from Princess Royal already and for some time we have been able to see the potential for a fantastic healthcare development right at the heart of the local community.

Princess Royal Health Centre
Princess Royal Health Centre

“As a not-for-profit social enterprise Locala has a duty to benefit the local community we serve. Our plans to develop Princess Royal in partnership with the local community is one way for us to do just that.

“In addition the purchase of Princess Royal is an investment in the long term security of Locala’s services; it provides a great platform for Locala to create something unique on the site and continues the site’s historic healthcare use.

“After some initial renovation work on buildings, and development of a new way finding system and signage, we will be likely to transfer more services onto the site in coming months to join those already there.”

Princess Royal Health Centre was first opened in July 1928, as the Municipal Maternity Home, replacing the previous maternity hospital at Mill Hill Hospital in Dalton, after Huddersfield health officials acquired a large former Victorian vicarage in Greenhead Road and turned it into a hospital.

The first baby was born on July 3, two days after the opening. It was a boy for Mr and Mrs Harold Armitage, of Blacker Road, Birkby, who christened their son Roland.

In July, 1939, a large extension was opened by the then Princess Royal, and in 1940 it became the Princess Royal Maternity Hospital, which is the name that appeared on thousands of birth certificates over the next four decades.

The last baby was born there in October, 1984, and the site was then handed over to community health services.