Basildon: Go-ahead for hospital’s 200-bed plan

The hospital's plans for a new 200 bed in-patient block was given outline planning permission last week by Basildon Council, the latest in a series of developments at the Nethermayne site to be approved.

Sue Jennings, chief executive of the Basildon and Thurrock General Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "The new development will bring tremendous benefit for patient care.

"It is vital to our plans for the centralisation of inpatient services and in line with the overwhelming weight of medical opinion.

"A recent joint paper from the Royal College of Surgeons, the Royal College of Physicians and the British Medical Association stated categorically that in-patient services are best provided by bringing all the expert skills and state of the art equipment together on a single site. We can only achieve this once we have the new wards."

In addition to the new block, work has already been completed on an extension to the hospital's children's unit, and the former minor injuries unit has been transformed into a new diabetic centre.

Meanwhile, work is under way on a new accommodation block for junior doctors on call and construction of a new breast care centre and a day surgery unit is due to begin shortly.

This year is also likely to see the refurbishment of the resuscitation room, a new children's waiting room in the accident and emergency department, a new children's outpatients department and an extension to the hospital's post graduate education centre.

The £5million programme is outlined in the Trust's recently published annual plan for 1999/ 2000, Moving Ahead.

Trust chairman David Hooper said: "I hope people will take the time to read Moving Ahead. I am certain if they do, they will be as excited and optimistic about the future of the NHS in this area as I am. It is going to be a great year."

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