THERE are just days to go before a private Ipswich hospital is to close, and patients transferred to Foxhall.Christchurch Park Hospital in Fonnereau Road, will finally close its doors to inpatients on Friday , after almost a century of offering private healthcare in the town.

THERE are just days to go before a private Ipswich hospital is to close, and patients transferred to Foxhall.

Christchurch Park Hospital in Fonnereau Road, will finally close its doors to inpatients on Friday , after almost a century of offering private healthcare in the town.

It is believed that outpatient and x-ray facilities will remain open at the site.

The hospital, established in 1905, joined the Nuffield chain - one of the country's largest networks of private hospitals, in April 1999.

The hospital went under the Nuffield Hospital's umbrella, together with the Suffolk Nuffield Hospital – formerly known as Foxhall Hospital which opened in May 1997. That is registered for 46 beds and has three operating theatres.

They became known as the Suffolk Nuffield Hospital, which was run across two sites, by Christchurch Park, and at Foxhall near the speedway stadium.

Nearly £500,000 had been spent on high-tech diagnostic equipment at the Christchurch Park hospital, in the three years leading up to the change.

Then the Evening Star announced in December 1999 that Christchurch hospital site was to close, and all medical care moved to the Suffolk Nuffield Hospital at Foxhall.

The closure was scheduled to happen by the end of 2001.

Neil Gold manager of the Suffolk Nuffield Hospital said the old building at Christchurch Park was difficult to provide modern healthcare services in, in the long term.

A company spokeswoman told The Evening Star at the time, that the Christchurch hospital site would possibly be sold to raise cash for healthcare.