A NEW building at Salisbury Hospital is to be named in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust has been granted permission to name the Imber Ward building the Elizabeth Building, in honour of the late Her Majesty the Queen.

The names Imber and Elizabeth Building came out top in a poll of staff.

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust chair, Ian Green OBE, said: “We are delighted to have been given permission to dedicate this new building to the memory of our late Queen, as collectively suggested by our staff.

“The Elizabeth Building, which includes Imber Ward, will provide elderly care in a state-of-the-art modern environment, supporting the Trust’s elective recovery programme.

“This marks a major milestone in our Trust’s commitment to deliver the very best compassionate, effective care.”

The new Imber Ward will form the majority of the environmentally-sustainable building, which the hospital’s clinical teams were heavily involved in designing.

It will have 24 beds, incorporating a mixture of four-bed bays and side rooms. In addition to central funding, the fitting out of the ward has been generously supported by the Stars Appeal.

The name Imber was chosen by staff as a tribute to the village taken over by the military in 1943 to train American troops ahead of the Liberation of Europe, the same year as the US Army Field Hospital opened on Odstock Road.