THE next stage of services transferring from Essex County Hospital to Colchester General Hospital is underway.

The £777,000 scheme to expand and improve the main outpatient department at the general hospital has been completed.

It means from next week, patients needing to see specialists in plastic surgery and dermatology will have their appointments there instead of Essex County Hospital.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, which runs both hospitals, has been working for more than a year to transfer services from the Lexden Road site to either Colchester General Hospital, which is two miles away, or into the community.

The process is expected to be completed next year, after which the Essex County Hospital site will be sold.

The nine outpatient plastic surgery outpatient clinics held each week at Essex County Hospital will transfer to Colchester General Hospital from September 1.

The only plastic surgery clinic to remain at Essex County Hospital will be the one supporting patients requiring breast reconstruction after cancer surgery.

This will continue until the second half of 2016, when the breast unit will be transferred to Gainsborough Wing at Colchester General Hospital.

Dermatology outpatient clinics at Essex County Hospital on Saturdays and Sundays will transfer to Colchester General Hospital from Saturday, September 5.

Ten dermatology clinics are held every week for patients with conditions such as skin cancer, eczema, acne and psoriasis.