Four years after MP Steve Barclay put the outdated North Cambs Hospital top of his Treat Me Local campaign, health chiefs have tonight announced an £8 million investment at the Wisbech site.

The money will be spent on upgrading vacant or out-dated accommodation, allowing some out patient services to move there from King's Lynn and refurbishing Rowan Lodge. Plans for improvements to the Alan Hudson treatment centre - run by the Arthur Rank House Charity - are also in the pipeline.

By the autumn the first phase should be visible and other improvements completed within three years.

Matthew Winn, chief executive of the Cambridgeshire Community Services NHS Trust, said it would ensure 'a vibrant local base for health services for the local population for years to come.

'By the autumn we will have refurbished part of the vacant Rowan Lodge and moved the musculo-skeletal physiotherapy services from their current location on site into the refurbished building.

'This will vastly improve the environment for patients, visitors and staff.'

Other plans, some that will need planning consent, include refurbishing by autumn 2019 the existing kitchen/dining block to create a new clinical area.

Mr Winn said: 'This will enable high quality services to be delivered, improving the privacy and dignity available for patients.'

Rowan Lodge will be re-furbished by autumn 2019 and outpatient services delivered by the Queen Elizabeth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust will move into this new clinical area.

Also within the first year the main entrance and waiting areas will be improved and there will be additional car parking space and the area landscaped areas.

The ambitious plans also include, within the early stages, a café and improvements to public areas and a new energy centre which will provide a more sustainable approach to heating.

Mr Winn added 'We want to provide a great facility for the benefit of local people. 'Our plans are sufficiently flexible to enable further development on site including in support of the 'Wisbech 2020 vision' and local regeneration schemes.'

Malcolm Bruce, chairman of the Friends of North Cambridgeshire Hospital: 'This investment will result in tremendous improvements on the site which will undoubtedly benefit local people.

'Services closer to home are so important for our community and we look forward to continuing our fund-raising activities and longstanding positive relationship with health service providers in the coming years.'

The Arthur Rank House Charity has also announced plans for the services they deliver from the Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre on the site.

Dr Lynn Morgan, chief executive, said 'We have plans to double the size of the Alan Hudson Day Treatment Centre which is located on the North Cambridgeshire Hospital site.

'Our work will start in the autumn of this year and we are pleased that we will be co-located with these exciting plans for the wider site, all of which will mean a significant upgrade of healthcare facilities for Wisbech and the surrounding area.'