A HOSPITAL trust hopes to knock down a former bed store to make way for radiology and medical imaging services.

The East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Colchester Hospital, wants to demolish a bed store on site to make way for an interventional radiology and cardiac angiography development.

A new bed store will be built to the right of the hospital - the current bed store is central to it.

A report to Colchester Council said: “The building is required as a substitute for the existing bed store which will be demolished to facilitate the development of new clinical facilities.

“The proposed site has been chosen due to its location based upon accessibility to the main hospital circulation routes.

“In addition, the relocation of the bed store to a less ‘central’ location will free up valuable clinical space with good adjacencies to wards and services.”

The new bed store will be able to hold 30 beds, and 44 mattresses.

There will also be a bed workshop for the repair of the beds, including electrical works.

The report added: “The bed store is essential to the currently running of the hospital as

it maintains an adequate supply of fully functioning

beds for day to day replacement or use in an emergency situation.

“The current bed store, to be demolished, holds 53 mattresses and 28 beds.

“This is an unglamorous but vital service within the context of the hospital. It functions to provide the supply of compliant and safe hospital beds.

“It is situated away from the more public parts of the site within an area associated with domestic activities.

“The new location will also benefit the hospital by freeing up the current bed store site for clinical use.”

The application says the demolished space will then be used for interventional radiology and cardiac angiography services.

Cardiac Angiography is a procedure that uses X-ray imaging to see the heart’s blood vessels.