Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals given £110m funding

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has received £110m

Long-awaited multi-million pound funding has been given to three major hospitals in Essex.

The Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has received £110m from the Department of Health and Social Care.

The money would be put towards upgrading the emergency department and improving cancer and planned care at Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals, the trust said.

The funding is aiming to make the hospitals "fit for the future".

However, the money was initially promised to the trust in 2017 when the hospitals merged together to make one of the largest trusts in the country.

"We've waited quite a while for this, so we're delighted now to have these resources to allow the hospital to expand," said Andrew Pike, chief operating officer at Southend University Hospital.

"Ideally it would have taken us less time to get these approvals but now that we've got them, we must make as much progress as possible."

He added: "We will be providing more modern facilities to suit the demand we are now facing, particularly our accident and emergency departments."

'Superb'

The trust would receive an initial £40m between now and March 2025 and it said it would carry out some preparation and building works.

Southend West Conservative MP Anna Firth told BBC Essex: "People are very keen to announce money, but that money doesn't make any difference until it is actually in the bank account of the hospital or the public service who needs it.

"It's going towards improving cancer and planned care by upgrading and expanding the surgical theatres in Southend and modernising the endoscopy suite and providing more beds and support for the reconfiguration of the emergency departments.

"It is superb we have got it, but I am still not going to give up on this until every last pound is safely in the trust bank account."