OUTDATED and inadequate. Two words to describe endoscopy facilities at Basildon Hospital. Now they are set to be replaced after the go- ahead was given for a new £5million unit.

Health chiefs have backed the call to move the existing unit, based next to the accident and emergency department at the hospital, in Nethermayne, Basildon.

The new unit will be housed instead in the former Mary Wright unit, which is currently only being used for inpatients as part of the hospital’s refurbishment programme while work takes place elsewhere.

Dr Javaid Subhani, consultant gastroenterologist at the hospital, led the calls for a new and expanded endoscopy suite. He said: “We are looking at a 30 per cent growth in this area in the next ten years.”

He said in the 1990s the unit was held up as a beacon site and received a gold standard mark, but due to the constraints of the size of the unit, Dr Subhani said they had not been able to improve any further.

He said: “We have hit a glass ceiling on how good we can be because of the physical constraints we face. What was acceptable in the Nineties for patients is no longer acceptable.”

The new unit will increase the unit’s capacity for treating patients, from three treatment rooms to four and, with an increased recovery area, means more patients can be seen each day.

Dr Subhani said: “The patient experience will be much improved and allow for greater privacy and dignity. That is one of the main drivers for staff at the unit, ensuring the comfort and convenience of patients.

“But it will also allow greater efficiency and provides the best flows for patients, staff and use of equipment,” he added.

Endoscopy services are central to the Government’s national bowel cancer screening programme, where men and women aged 60-69 are invited to take part in screening every two years.

About one in 20 people in the UK will develop bowel cancer during their lifetime.

It is the third most common cancer in the UK and the second leading cause of cancer deaths, with over 16,000 people dying from it each year. Regular screening has been shown to reduce the risk of dying from bowel cancer by 16 per cent, and Basildon Hospital has been selected as a specialist centre for the screening programme, which was launched in 2006 and is currently being phased in.

However without the planned new unit the work on developing the national programme in south Essex could not go ahead.

The business case for the new unit states: “This programme cannot be accommodated within the existing facilities beyond the first year of operation. The current department is small and cramped, providing poor amenities for patients.

“The facilities for decontamination of scopes are in need of modernisation to meet current standards.”

Hospital trust chief executive, Alan Whittle, said: “This project will serve several purposes apart from the obvious benefits to both the patient experience and that of our staff working there.”

Mr Whittle said the trust would gain increased revenue from performing more procedures in the unit, as part of the growth of the bowel cancer screening service.

He added: “It will also release space for our next project, the refurbishment of the accident and emergency department.”

Balfour Beatty, who worked with hospital planners on the purpose-built Cardiothoracic Centre which opened last year, has drawn up the plans for the unit which will cost £4.9million to construct.

Work is set to begin next month with a scheduled opening date of August 2009.