PATIENTS would be “mad” not to choose Colchester General Hospital for cancer treatment, according to health boss Dr Lucy Moore.

The hospital interim chief executive also said the reports were the “best we could have hoped for” in light of the criticism levelled at the trust in the last year.

Dr Moore claimed the trust had come so far in the last year, patients should have no problem choosing to be treated at the Turner Road hospital for cancer.

She said: “If you have cancer and you have the choice of any hospital in the country for treatment, you would be mad not to choose Colchester.

“I would put money on it being significantly better in Colchester than at other trusts.”

She added: “We recognise there is journey to improvement - there needs to be a step change.”

Dr Moore also said she expected Care Quality Commission inspectors to return to the hospital in summer 2015 and was confident the trust would be lifted out of special measures.

But she was uncommittal about whether she would still be at the trust to complete the “journey” beyond her current leaving date, in September 2015, adding: “It is my intention to be here to take the trust out of special measures.”

Peter Wilson, interim board chairman, added the trust would be seeking to make long-term appointments, but has “chosen the best people at this time to take this trust forward”.