A £1.5 MILLION centre for major vascular surgery opens in Colchester next month.

From July 9 patients from across north east Essex, the Colne Valley and east Suffolk who need emergency or planned blood vessel surgery will have it at Colchester General Hospital.

The specialist state-of-the-art theatre and 14-bed vascular inpatient unit has been put together by The Five Rivers Vascular Network.

It is made up of Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust, the Ipswich Hospital NHS Trust and three local primary care trusts.