A STATE-OF-THE-ART laboratory designed to speed up test results for patients across south Essex has been officially opened by the Duke of Kent.

The Queen’s cousin joined hospital bosses and councillors yesterday to unveil the Pathology First testing lab, which will begin testing pathology samples in April after a successful Echo campaign to keep blood testing in south Essex.

The £10million unit, at Bentalls, Basildon, will employ 340 staff working around the clock, conducting tests for GPs and outpatient clinics by diagnosing diseases from blood, bodily tissues and fluids.

The scheme, which will serve almost 750,000 residents across South Essex each year, is a joint venture between Basildon and Southend hospitals and Integrated Pathology Partnerships, which also fought the bid by NHS bosses to centre pathology testing services in Bedford.

Clare Panniker, chief executive for Basildon and Thurrock Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It will give Basildon and Southend Hospitals the chance to work together and it means the service is staying local.

“It will offer faster test results.”

She said the collaboration could only be achieved financially by joining the private partnership.

Sue Hardy, chief executive for Southend Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said the opening marked an end to uncertainty shrouding pathology services in south Essex.

She said: “It’s an excellent collaboration between the NHS and private partners.

“This is not about privatisation, it is about getting investment.

It’s a wonderful facility for staff to work in and forges a new relationship between the hospitals where we will be working together.”

Stuart Quinn, the chief executive of Integrated Pathology Partnerships, said: “This is about providing a far-reaching service to patients.”

Blood testing was to stay in Essex after a hard-fought campaign in 2013.

It was announced in December 2012 that GP requested pathology services were to be moved 90 miles away.

The news came when Community Pathology Services was named the preferred bidder to run analysis of blood, stool and other specimen samples, meaning tests would have been transported by road to Bedford.

But a phenomenal 16,869 Echo readers supported our campaign to keep blood testing in south Essex.

That was the final tally on our petition as health officials conceded defeat in the plan to move testing, which could have led to longer waits for results.

We handed over two huge piles of petitions to NHS South Essex bosses at its board meeting.

The campaign was triggered by a huge backlash from doctors and patients about the move of pathology services from Basildon and Southend hospitals.

The Pathology First Unit in Bentalls, Basildon, will process over 11,500 blood samples a day, and analyse about 1,500 swabs of fluids each year.