AT the start of the month I had the opportunity to tour the brand new Emergency Department that is being built at Leighton Hospital.

As part of record levels of investment into our NHS, Leighton received £15 million from the government last year to develop a new two-storey building to replace the hospital's existing Emergency department.

Many of you will have been there as patients or with friends and family and seen it is simply too small.

Having worked as an Emergency doctor myself for many years I know busy Emergency departments are stressful environments for staff and patients at the best of times.

When there aren't enough cubicles to see patients, forcing people to wait in corridors, or, as with Leighton, not enough space for a separate area for children, things are made even worse. New facilities aren't a magic bullet, but they can certainly help.

One of my first ever campaigns was a petition to expand the Emergency department at Leighton Hospital which thousands of residents signed. I was aware from talking to residents and staff that the department was extremely busy, especially at peak times, and the demand has only continued to grow.

I wanted to help the hospital secure funding to try and deal with the increased demand and I am pleased that the government has rightly invested in our local hospital again.

While visiting I had the chance to talk to hospital managers about issues with patient and visitor parking which I know can be very difficult sometimes. I was shown new parking spaces opened up this year and the hospital have confirmed more spaces will be developed and come online early next year.

As well as this, the government announced that on top of the previously announced 40 new hospitals pledged at the last election under the hospital building programme, a further eight sites will be chosen to extend the programme even further.

The hospital was built in the 1970s and planned to be used for just 30 years. It has had new state-of-the-art facilities over the years with the new Emergency Department the latest example.

But eventually the core of the site will need rebuilding and this is the perfect opportunity.

Leighton Hospital has put a bid in to be chosen as one of these final eight hospitals, submitting plans for a £663m redevelopment of the site.

I launched a petition last year to build community support for this campaign, and I am pleased to see that it has already been signed by thousands of residents.

I would encourage residents to sign the petition, which can be found using the following link.

Along with this, I am asking residents to share their positive stories of Leighton Hospital, whether that be a personal story or a story about relative or friend who received treatment at this hospital, as I want to use the stories to support this campaign further.

I am sure most residents in Crewe have visited the hospital for many different reasons. The hospital is vital for our health and wellbeing here in Crewe and we are very lucky to have the NHS that is always there for us when we need it most.