A FORMER bank has been chosen by health chiefs to become a new £1.3 million medical walk-in centre for shoppers and office workers.

NHS Stoke-on-Trent has submitted a plan to turn the former Yorkshire Bank building in Stafford Street, Hanley, into the first scheme in the Potteries where people can drop in to see a GP or nurse without an appointment.

Unlike the city's existing walk-in complex at the Haywood in Burslem, where care is dispensed solely by nurses, the new health and well-being complex will be led by medics.

Besides having a minor injuries unit, it will offer people lifestyle checks, screening for chronic diseases and advice on healthy living.

Primary care trust bosses see it as a medium-term solution to their aim of boosting medical services in the heart of the community to keep patients away from the under-pressure accident unit at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire.

They have negotiated a 10-year lease on the building with its private landlord. There is an option to leave midway through if the longer-term proposal to start a service as part of Hanley's West Precinct development comes to fruition.

Ian Gibson, PCT clinical effectiveness and quality head, said: "The site has been carefully chosen to reach the maximum number of people, with its location close to the Potteries Shopping Centre and bus station.

"Anyone will be able to use the practice and it will be especially useful for people with busy lifestyles who struggle to fit appointments into their day."

The application will be considered by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in the next three months and, if approved, the first patients could be getting help by the end of the year after an extensive refurbishment of the property.

The contract to help patients in the centre has been handed to private company Badger Harmoni Health Care which currently runs the out-of-hours urgent care in South Staffordshire.

The scheme had been unveiled last December as part of a £4 million package to bring 12 extra GPs to work in Hanley as well as new practices in Meir and Middleport.

Hanley traders see a side-effect of the city centre move will be to draw in hundreds of people who may then spend money in stores.

Richard Day, spokesman for the city centre partnership, said: "This is great news for Hanley. It will bring new jobs and breathe life into a stretch where there are a number of vacant properties.

"The plans look really good and besides the main aim of helping patients, it will increase footfall to benefit other city centre businesses."

Dr Steve Fawcett, chairman of the PCT's professional executive committee, said: "This will particularly help those who need help when other parts of the urgent care system are not available."