Clare Panniker, chief executive of Basildon and Southend hospitals, has welcomed £10billion extra funding that will help kick-start radical plans for healthcare in south Essex.

Philip Hammond announced an additional package of capital investment in frontline services over the course of the Parliament to support the Sustainability and Transformation plans which he said “will make our NHS more resilient. Investing in an NHS fit for the future”.

It was revealed yesterday the cash could see a hyper-acute stroke unit sited in Basildon Hospital alongside the hospital’s cardiothoracic centre under new plans for services at Southend, Basildon and Broomfield hospitals.

Mr Hammond also announced an additional £350million to cope with pressures over the coming winter.

Mr Hammond acknowledged that the service is “under pressure” as he committed resource funding of £2.8billion to the NHS in England.

This includes the immediate funds for winter planning, £1.6billion in 2018/19 and the rest the year after.

This comes as welcome news to Southend and Basildon hospitals who have frequently on been on black alerts during the winter months.

Ms Panniker said: “Although we are still working through all of the detail this could represent the most significant investment into mid and south Essex for almost a decade and we are delighted. This is an important step in the work we have been doing to develop proposals to secure and improve the care we provide for our population in the future.

“It will help us to improve the quality of the facilities in which we care for patients, helping to bring clinical areas up to modern standards.

“It is exciting news but does not mean the decision on services has been made. There is still a lot of work to do, including the full public consultation where our communities will again have the opportunity to tell us their views to help us build a model of hospital care which provides the very best outcomes for local people.”

A detailed business case and plan for a period of public consultation will be considered at the end of this month by the Joint Committee of the five clinical commissioning groups in mid and south Essex.”

In a statement yesterday, the hospitals revealed there would be a new “hyper acute stroke unit” close to the existing cardiothoracic centre in Basildon to provide the highest dependency and intensive care for stroke patients in the first 72 hours following a stroke.