Views sought on vascular surgery in Suffolk and Essex

Plans to carry out vascular surgery only at Colchester General Hospital are to be put to affected residents in north-east Essex and east Suffolk.

Consultant working at The Five Rivers Vascular Network want to concentrate skills at Colchester and have called for people to give their views.

Major surgery on veins and arteries is currently carried out at both Ipswich and Colchester.

Isam Osman, lead consultant, said all options had been considered carefully.

"We are all of the opinion that the future of vascular services in east Suffolk, north-east Essex and the Colne Valley is secured by bringing together our expertise at one hospital," he said.

"If this does not happened, services would have to go elsewhere, such as Cambridge or Norwich."

The consultation deadline is 23 December