Work begins this week on a £49m project to build a new emergency department and assessment centre at Slough's Wexham Park Hospital.

It has been planned since the Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust took over the running of the hospital.

Sicker emergency patients will be treated in individual rooms and there will be extra wards above for testing and treating patients who arrive via the emergency department (ED).

Chief executive Sir Andrew Morris said: “We have been planning this since 2014 so I’m really excited to be starting building work on something that will be a huge asset to the health of local people for decades to come.

“Locating the assessment wards above the new ED will improve the experience and results for patients and will allow us to provide a higher quality of care more efficiently.

“Putting these important wards together also frees up space on the rest of the Wexham Park site so we can move some other services into better buildings and locations.”

The 36 individual rooms in ED will provide better safety, privacy and infection control.

The floor above ED will test and treat patients who can go home within 24 hours and the second floor will be for short stay assessment and treatment for up to 72 hours. Following this, patients will either be discharged or admitted to another part of the hospital.

A third floor will house offices, staff rooms and plant equipment for the building.

The building is due to be finished in late 2018 and the space vacated by the current ED will be converted into a better environment and location for other hospital services.

Building work is already in full swing on another part of the Wexham Park site where £10m is being spent improving maternity and gynaecology services. Work began in October and the next phase of the project will see the labour ward upgraded with en suite facilities in each room.

Frimley Health also wants to rebuild Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot. Local planners are expected to decide whether to approve these plans in late spring 2017.