A MULTI-MILLION pound project to refurbish and extend a disused villa has allowed more than 40 staff to move to Colchester General Hospital.

The Cellular Pathology Department, which consists mainly of scientific staff working on the diagnosis of diseases, including cancer, had previously been located in Chestnut Villa on the site of the former Severalls Hospital.

Work is underway to demolish most of the Several Hospital buildings to make way for housing.

Now after a six month £1.9million refurbishment of a disused village in the grounds of Colchester General Hospital, the staff have been able to move in.

Department manager Ian Drury said: “Chestnut Villa was built in about 1910 as a children’s dormitory of a mental hospital and was extended in the 1930s.

“Therefore, it was never intended as a place for diagnosing diseases and was not a pleasant environment to work in.

“Staff have played a huge role in the design of the new department, which is more spacious than what we had previously, and being based in the hospital means greater efficiency because tissue samples no longer have to be transported off the site for analysis.

“It has also allowed us to separate clinical areas, which are all on the ground floor, from the office accommodation which is on the first floor.”

Some staff at the unit screen and analyse specimens from all over north east Essex of women who have taken part in the NHS cervical screening programme.

Other histology staff analyse tissue samples such as prostate and stomach biopsies, placentas and skin from patients with suspected cancer.

The idea of the move was first mooted about 20 years ago but it was not given the green light until recently.