AROUND 60 jobs are being created at at a new elderly care complex in Bingley.

The 84,000 sq ft Abbeyfield Society development on the former Bingley hospital site will provide 47 one and two bedroom extra care apartments, a 30-bed specialist dementia centre and a day care centre.

The Abbeyfield The Dales complex, which has been developed with funding from Yorkshire Bank, will also provide a central hub with coffee bars, lounges, restaurants and a hairdressing salon – all of which will also be open to the local community in addition to residents.

Jobs at the complex, which due for completion in the autumn, will include care staff, nurses, catering and cleaning staff and administration roles. Abbeyfield is also seeking local volunteers to help at the centre.

Jackie Bradfield, Abbeyfield The Dales chief executive, said: “We’re really looking forward to opening our new Bingley site. As well as offering fantastic high quality care services to the community we will have a positive impact locally in lots of other ways, from supporting new jobs to implementing a volunteer network that has the potential to enrich people’s lives.

“We strongly believe in recruiting local people into local jobs to provide local services. People who join us will have the opportunity to develop their career and learn from our existing staff. We have one employee who started as a care assistant and is now a house manager and another who began in administration support who has been promoted to quality manager.

“We’d like to thank Yorkshire Bank for its support. Its knowledgeable team understand the opportunities and challenges within the healthcare sector and have developed a funding solution that has enabled us to build a facility that will significantly enhance the lives of older people in the local community.”

Gail Fieldin, director of health and social care at Yorkshire Bank’s specialist and acquisition finance team, added: “It’s a great privilege to be supporting the work of The Abbeyfield Society, which provides vital care services to older people and enables our elderly to enjoy an improved quality of life in their later years.

“The Bingley development will be a standout purpose built development which will be a real asset to the local community and will also create new job opportunities. I’m extremely proud to be helping the organisation deliver its Bingley plans.”

The Abbeyfield Society is an international charity celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. It looks after about 8,000 people in nine countries including the UK where it operates 521 sites.