A £1MILLION windfall has been awarded to Colchester’s hospital trust to ease pressure on its Accident and Emergency department.

The Department of Health confirmed it is one of 70 NHS hospitals to get slice of its A&E capital funding.

The cash is aimed at easing pressure this coming winter following some of the worst national patient treatment times in history.

Hospitals are set a national standard to admit, transfer or discharge 95 per cent of patients presenting at A&E within four hours.

Nick Hulme, chief executive of Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, confirmed the funding at yesterday’s board of directors meeting.

He said: “There is no doubt we need at some stage quite a significant redevelopment of the A&E department.

“If we were building it again we wouldn’t design it that way as it is too small and not always easy for nurses to have a direct line of sight for patients.

“But in the meantime this will provide significant improvement for patients because it will allow us to improve the front bit of A&E and allows us to stream patients into the appropriate place and the right clinical area rather than the generic waiting area. It is a really important and welcome initial investment.”

Mr Hulme said within the next year the trust would develop a business case for a much wider A&E refurbishment.

The initial redesign has to be done by October.

In January ambulances were queuing outside Colchester’s A&E as its staff battled to cope with demand.

The situation - which included doctors and nurses having to board ambulances to assess patients and free up A&E staff - was described by Mr Hulme as “appalling”.

Patients had been left waiting in corridors in some cases up to eight hours.

The surge in patients, typical most winters, was described by him as a “prolonged intense period of activity”.

The volume of patients who perhaps put off going to their GP over Christmas, along with the severity of their conditions were said to have contributed to the cocktail of pressure.

That month 76.4 per cent of patients were seen within the four hour target.

Latest figures show in March the picture had vastly improved with 91.4 per cent of patients seen within four hours.

Mr Hulme has previously said he is a fan of the four-hour standard as he views it as “a barometer of how the whole hospital and system is responding to A&E.”

The £1million boost was described as “game changing” by Colchester’s Conservative MP Will Quince.

Last month Mr Quince asked Theresa May during Prime Minister’s Questions for hospital funding.

He added: “This really is excellent news. A real vote of confidence in our hospital. I am very proud to have played a part in securing this funding for our hospital.”

Mr Quince said he also raised the need for more money for the hospital trust - now with a £22million deficit - with health secretary Jeremy Hunt and health minister Philip Dunne.

Yesterday’s board meeting also heard Sir Bob Russell ask Mr Hulme how many medical and other staff from the European Union the trust employed.

He asked what contingency arrangements the hospital had made in the event of a “hard Brexit” which would mean EU citizens would no longer have the freedom to live and work in Britain.

Mr Hulme told Mr Russell, the number was “significant”.

He added that the loss of EU staff working in social care would be even worse because care homes relied heavily on staff from overseas.

Sir Bob, who like Mr Quince, will stand as a candidate in the June 8 General Election, said afterwards he pledged to ensure the terms of Britain leaving the EU must include a guarantee that all EU residents currently living here should be allowed to do so.

He also said there would be no restriction in future for new people from the EU coming to work in our hospitals and care homes.