Fayetteville, N.C. — Cape Fear Valley Health System plans to ask state regulators for permission to build a 65-bed hospital north of Fayetteville.

The hospital would adjoin the health system's 5-year-old Health Pavilion North complex, near the Ramsey Street interchange of Interstate 295. The complex already offers cancer treatment, physical and occupational therapy, urgent care and laboratory and imaging services.

“Our goal is to further improve access to health-care services for residents of northern Cumberland County and surrounding areas in the most cost-effective and efficient way possible," Cape Fear Valley Health Chief Executive Mike Nagowski said in a statement. "The I-295 interchange makes Health Pavilion North very accessible to residents living to the north and east and will only enhance its accessibility as construction continues on I-295. We are excited about bringing Cumberland County its first new hospital in more than 50 years.”

The proposed hospital would include 57 inpatient beds, eight intensive care beds, seven observation beds, a 20-bed emergency department, two operating rooms and laboratory and imaging services.

Nagowski said admissions at the system's flagship Cape Fear Valley Medical Center have increased 14 percent in the last three years, and emergency department visits are projected to top 130,000 this year, which would be a 30 percent increase.