Health chiefs in Suffolk have announced that outpatient services are set to return to Thetford next month following a two year absence.The West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St Edmunds revealed in 2005 that it was winding up clinics at Thetford's cottage hospital as a result of financial cuts.

Health chiefs in Suffolk have announced that outpatient services are set to return to Thetford next month following a two year absence.

The West Suffolk Hospital at Bury St Edmunds revealed in 2005 that it was winding up clinics at Thetford's cottage hospital as a result of financial cuts.

But the NHS trust has now confirmed that outpatient services will begin at Thetford's new Community Healthy Living Centre, in Croxton Road, from July 16.

Chris Bown, the Trust's chief executive, said: “We always planned to re-introduce the clinics to Thetford once the new centre was built. Provision of services for our patients is paramount. People told us they wanted these clinics and we, and Norfolk PCT, have done our utmost to re-provide them in this up-to-date facility.”

The reinstated clinics include ophthalmology, ear, nose and throat, orthopaedics, neurology, cardiology, urology, gynaecology and general surgery. Dermatology clinics, which were run out of Grove Surgery, have re-started in the new centre. Midwifery services also remained in Thetford.

The £4.5m healthy living centre, which opened in January, already has x-ray, physiotherapy, phlebotomy, a new GP surgery, community dentistry, family planning, mental health services, and children's services.