Stafford Hospital extension plan unveiled

Health bosses have unveiled plans for a major extension to Stafford Hospital.

Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both Stafford and Cannock Hospital, has applied for planning permission from Stafford Borough Council to carry out the work to try to improve space in the hospital's Endoscopy Unit.

The trust has said the plans are so far only in the design stage and it cannot give the cost of the work or the expected start date for the construction to begin.

Under the plans, the hospital will be aiming to improve space inside with an extension at ground floor level to create a recovery and waiting area with associated rooms for the Endoscopy Unit.

This extension will fill a space between two existing wings at the hospital.

There will also be a new ground link corridor created to link with the Endoscopy Unit across an existing courtyard.

The steel frame extension will match existing brickwork at the hospital and is unlikely to alter the impact on nearby homes or views.

Manjit Obhrai, deputy chief executive at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust said: "We have applied for planning permission to enable us to build a new area for our existing Endoscopy Unit at Stafford Hospital.

"The extension will improve the patient experience with separate waiting, treatment and recovery areas.

"We are still in the early design stages of planning and therefore we are not in a position to advise what the cost will be or when work would start."

The plans can be viewed at the borough council offices on Riverside during office hours and members of the public can comment on the plans before a decision is made by planners at the council in coming months.

By Shaun Lintern