Plans to create a "state-of-the-art children's ward" at Warwick Hospital have been signed off by district planners.

South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust last year announced its intention to expand the MacGregor Children's Ward to "ensure all of our young patients experience a safe and engaging environment during their care".

Through the Young Minds Matter fundraiser, the trust has been raising the £350,00 needed to build a new playroom, an adolescent recreational area and a sensory area.

There are also plans for a bereavement suite which will serve as a space for those experiencing devastating news, and will also allow parents some respite from the busy ward.

The project was prompted by the increase in young mental health patients admitted to the ward since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

And the project has now been handed a major boost as Warwick District Council has granted planning permission for the ward to be extended.

An application submitted to the council by SWFT said: "The clinical teams at the Warwick Hospital struggle to accommodate the increasing number of patients due to the buildings and facilities being at capacity. 

"The number, size, design and configuration of rooms, corridors and waiting areas, means staff are regularly unable to find a suitable room to accommodate a service, medical and nursing, or a patient with specific needs, for example a wheelchair user. 

"These limitations are operationally unacceptable in a modern healthcare environment."

The trust said this problem would only get worse as "continued population growth" placed "great pressure on existing healthcare services". 

It said the two single-storey extensions for the ward would help "meet the future health demands of the local community".

Approving the application, a WDC report agreed, saying the project would result in "an enhancement to care facilities that provide an essential service wider community".

The application is the latest in a string of proposals put forward for Warwick Hospital.

The district council has already signed off on plans to make a temporary paediatric unit permanent and is currently considering an application for the complete remodelling of the hospital's entrance.