THE Maldon district has been waiting for a new hospital for 14 years.

St Peter’s Hospital, in Spital Road, was recognised as an “ageing” facility as far back as 2003.

At that point plans and consultations began on creating a new community hospital for the district that would replace St Peter’s and provide healthcare for the residents for years to come.

Residents were promised a state of the art £20 million facility.

They were told the new site would include intermediate and rehabilitation care services, the development of group midwifery including local delivery and postnatal beds, a comprehensive range of outpatient services, a digital x-ray service, an ultrasound service, an assessment and rehabilitation unit, a therapy centre, an out-of-hours nurse-led minor injury service, the development of GP specialist services and a child development unit.

Those plans fell through, and a new £35 million plan was revealed in 2006.

Delays followed and the £35 million centre became a £13 million hospital that would be fully completed by 2013.

A year after that deadline, Maldon District Council announced St Peter’s Hospital was no longer a viable site for a hospital, though progress on the health hub continued to go slow.

Now the new community hospital has been downgraded to a possible Home First plan, which would focus on treating patients at home rather than in hospital.

Dr Caroline Dollery, chairman of Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “In the next five years many things will be possible, such as monitoring blood pressure, oxygen levels and other vital signs without the need for patients to leave their home.”