PLANS for a £2.7million revamp of Basildon Hospital's main entrance are a step closer after details of a new pharmacy emerged.

The service, which would be run by a private firm, expected to be Boots, is designed for outpatients.

There is already a pharmacy inside the hospital, in Nethermayne, which serves patients on the wards.

It is expected to take two years for the new “retail environment”, including shops and cafes, to open inside the main entrance.

But hospital bosses are keen to get a temporary pharmacy operating while the scheme is being finalised.

A planning application has been submitted to Basildon Council for two single-storey inter-connecting temporary buildings on a grass area outside the outpatients’ department.

A hospital spokesman said: "The overall plan is to embed the outpatient pharmacy provision within the main front entrance area, and until this is possible the provider wishes to establish temporary accommodation to begin providing this much needed service. The service will fit in with the existing surrounding hospital, albeit in temporary accommodation initially.

“The existing in-house pharmacy will continue to support the need of inpatients.’’ The new pharmacy would be utilised by outpatients as a much-needed service to ensure ongoing care, the spokesman added.

The temporary units would be connected to the outpatients’ unit via a removable window.

Rose beds on the site where the pharmacy would go, which have been planted as memorials, would be removed to an alternative location within the hospital grounds.

The £2.7million revamp includes a £1.3million overhaul of the car park and access road, in a bid to ease congestion.

The redesign would separate ambulances from pedestrians and other vehicles, and improve the exit at Dry Street.

Ticket machines and barriers in the car park would be replaced so parking charges for patients and staff can be altered.

Basildon Council is due to decide on the temporary pharmacy plans by July.