Work on a £183,000 project to upgrade one of the oldest wards at Colchester General Hospital was due to start today.

Patients on the 30-bed West Bergholt Ward were transferred to a spare ward at the hospital on Friday, where they will stay until the 10-week work is done. They are due to return on June 10.

The project will be the latest in a programme of improvements to the original hospital building at Colchester General Hospital, which opened in 1985.

Last year, Langham and Nayland medical wards were upgraded in an £180,000 investment, £400,000 was spent on upgrading the Medical Assessment Unit (MAU) and the £500,000 modernisation of the Accident & Emergency department was completed.

Lynda Kitching, sister on West Bergholt ward, said: "We're an orthopaedic ward and have a lot of heavy equipment like hoists which are always being moved around and over the years these have damaged the walls and chipped away at the door frames.

"The work will include complete redecoration, new flooring, improvements to the nurses' and doctors' stations, replacing bedhead lights and additional shelving."

Published Monday, March 25, 2002