A NEW intensive care hub is being created at Basildon for future Covid-19 patients.

The intensive care unit will have 26 beds and will be used to house patients from Southend and Broomfield in Chelmsford.

The Mid and South Essex Hospitals Trust, which runs the hospitals, has stated no intensive care beds will be lost in Southend as a result.

The trust hopes that the new unit will mitigate any issues stemming from a second wave of Covid-19 infections.

A spokesman said: "None of the 14 ITU and HDU beds at Southend will be lost as a result of this change, but the numbers available may decrease by one or two beds if there is a Covid surge, with staffing the Specialist Critical Care Centre prioritised.

"There will also be no loss of 24/7 A&E at any of our sites.

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"From July, Covid patients from the three core intensive care units at Southend, Broomfield, and Basildon will receive care in one 26-bed specialist unit.

"This allows us to better care for both patients and staff. Crucially, it will release critical care availability across all three sites for surgical, cancer and cardiovascular patients who may have had their treatment delayed because of the pandemic.

"These positive changes to how and where we deliver certain types of care are in line with the wider NHS, and are part of a phased response to make sure we can provide as much non-Covid healthcare to our 1.2 million population as possible.

"We’ve had to make these changes quickly so we’re prepared for any future Covid-19 surges, working under pandemic level four response guidance."