PATIENTS with suspected prostate cancer will be diagnosed more quickly thanks to a £25,000 investment in new equipment at Colchester General Hospital.

The template biopsy equipment is used in selected patients to take small pieces of prostate tissue to be looked at under a microscope to find out if a patient has cancer.

It was paid for by £10,000 donations from both the Colchester Hospitals Charity and the Essex Cancer Network, which is a partnership between service providers, such as Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust and clinical commissioning groups.

The remaining £5,000 came from Colchester Hospital Trust, which runs Colchester General Hospital.