I HAVE had to go to Warrington Hospital quite a bit over the past week or so.

And two things really strike you.

First and foremost, the care and professionalism of the staff on duty.

We went into the ambulatory care ward, a sort of spill over from A&E.

Everyone we met was outstanding at their job, warm and friendly, a credit to themselves and the hospital.

As a town, we should be proud to have them working for us and keeping us healthy.

But secondly what you notice is the state of the building. The ward was in a temporary building in a car park, attached to one of the main corridors.

Paint was falling off the doors, it looked its age. As does large parts of the rest of the hospital.

There has been a lot of sensible talk from our health and political leaders in recent weeks over the need for a new hospital.

The time has come to make it happen.

Whether that means building it where it is or finding a new site – I will leave those decisions for the experts.

But staff and patients of Warrington deserve so much better.

We keep hearing Warrington being mentioned as a city.

If we do have ambitions of growing more, we need a hospital to match those ambitions.

JAMES WILSON Orford