BASILDON Hospital is to get a redesign of its front entrance, offering visitors and staff more facilities.

They will include a Costa Coffee, M&S Simply Food and WHSmith, which will deliver the first onsite Post Office in an Essex hospital.

It will also offer a new bereavement and patient advice and liaison service suite, a refurbished multi-faith room, new admin space and a welcoming hub for Mid and South Essex Hospitals Charity.

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust's chief commercial officer, Jonathan Dunk, said: "The current front entrance has been here since 1972 and is in vital need of change to bring us into the 21st century. We're delighted to be working with our new commercial partners on delivering this crucial improvement for Basildon Hospital.

"The new two-storey building will create a safer, more welcoming and modern main entrance that will meet the needs of our patients, staff and the local community for many years to come."

The hospital will also benefit from a redesigned road layout that will make it easier for traffic to get on and off site; work on this began on Monday 18 October.

Work on the new two-storey main entrance will start early next year, with construction due to be completed by late 2022.

The scheme is being created in partnership with specialist developer Noviniti, which has delivered similar projects at other hospitals - such as Colchester, Poole and Northampton - and WHSmith, which will operate the retail units.

Noviniti will be funding the cost of new main entrance, with rent from the retail outlets paying for the two-storey project. At the end of the 30-year lease the building will be returned to the Trust.