The site of the new community hospital for Maldon to replace the aging St Peter's Hospital is set to be announced soon.

Maldon and South Chelmsford Primary Care Trust director Mike Harrison said that he expects the final location to be decided in the next two months.

The announcement follows a three month formal public consultation on proposals for the new £20 million hospital, receiving overwhelming unanimous support.

The Primary Care Trust has not yet decided on a final location for the hospital but has already started work on recommendations to the care trust board for a "preferred green site" for the new hospital.

The recommendations include land appraisals and traffic studies, both of which are at an advanced stage the trust has said, and an outline business plan will go before the board in October.

Last month the Primary Care trust revealed that it would cost nearly £10m to keep St Peter's Hospital at an operational level, not including money for services.

It was also announced that there were no plans to spend any more significant amounts of cash on the 19th century hospital.

Mike Harrison, chief executive of the PCT said: "We are narrowing the sites down and lots of work is going on as to what would be the best site. I expect it to be released when we submit a planning application."

The new hospital could provide intermediate and rehabilitation care beds for physically disabled youngsters and new midwifery services including local delivery and postnatal beds.

An out of hours nurse could also be available to treat minor injuries, along with specialist GP services and a child development unit.

Published Thursday, June 5, 2003

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