A UNIVERSITY has unveiled plans to build Essex’s first medical school to help curb mounting pressures on health services.

The state-of-the-art £20 million facility, which will train doctors and other healthcare professionals, is set to be built at Anglia Ruskin's Chelmsford campus.

Its first undergraduate students should start their studies in two years’ time, subject to approval from the General Medical Council and the allocation of places from the Government.

The announcement follows Government plans revealed last week, aiming to train an extra 1,500 doctors per year.

Dr Ruth Jackson, the university’s pro vice chancellor for the School of Medicine Development welcomed the news.

She said: “Essex has a distressed health economy with a shortage of professionals and many of those set to retire in the near future.

“The county has few undergraduate students who live and train here, and that is what we want to change.”

Essex has a population of 1.4million which is set to soar by 20 per cent in 2025, adding significant stress on health services, according to the university.

The Mid and South Essex area also has the highest percentage of GPs aged over 54 in the country, and the second highest patients-per-GP ratio in the country.

Dr Jackson continued: “The development of an Essex-based medical school is widely viewed by stakeholders as part of the solution to the ongoing issues faced by the region.

“We have worked closely with a broad range of partners across the regional health economy for the past two years in planning the School of Medicine, including NHS Trusts, primary care providers, local authorities and charities.”

Anglia Ruskin hopes to recruit 50 per cent of students from the east of England, providing opportunities for the region’s most promising students starting in September 2018.

State-of-the-art skills facilities, specialist teaching space, a lecture theatre and cadaveric anatomy suite are just some of the facilities in the pipeline.

They will complement existing skills facilities and the £3.4 million SuperLab which opened in 2015.

In development since 2014, the project is subject to approval from the General Medical Council and the allocation of places from the Government.

Anglia Ruskin will look to secure 50 per cent of spaces from Essex schools and colleges.

 Dr Jackson added: “Our university has always had a strong commitment to widening participation and we hope to recruit a significant number of students from local schools.”