A NEW outpatient unit will be built in Basildon town centre thanks to a £600,000 Government grant.

The money has been given to the Mid and South Essex Success Regime by health secretary Jeremy Hunt and NHS England boss Simon Stevens as part of a £325million project to modernise and transform care.

It will fund improvements to the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre, based in the grounds of Basildon Hospital, and a new facility in the town centre.

The outpatient unit is expected to offer x-rays, blood tests and same day surgery. Further details about its location have not been revealed.

Andy Vowles, programme director of the Mid and South Essex Success Regime, said: “We are very pleased to receive capital funds for the development of two schemes within the Sustainability and Transformation Partnerships programme, which will make a difference to patient care in the future.

“The allocations are in the region of £300,000 each.

“One will fund an additional catheter lab at the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre and the other enables the development of a premises in Basildon town centre that could provide more convenient hospital outpatient appointments for some services.

“The greater and more radical transformation programme set out in our programme is still in discussion and further capital investments will be built into the plan later this year.”

Rumours that the new centre - an extension of Basildon Hospital - would be built on the former market site have been shot down by South Essex College, which is creating a new campus on the land.

A spokesman said: “Our commitment to Basildon remains strong. South Essex College is on track to provide a new campus in the town centre offering education opportunities to the people of the borough.

“We continue to work with Basildon Council and the wider community on our plans.”

He added that concerns a lack of money is holding the development back are unfounded.

The spokesman said: “Post-16 education provision has experienced the largest cuts in its history. We have limited the number of redundancies required and are committed to continuing to improve our financial health and stability.”

The college is currently based in Nethermayne. A new market is currently being built in St Martin’s Square.

l See pages 8 to 10 to find out about changes to Mid and South Essex Success Regime plans.