PLANS are well advanced for a £50 million private hospital in the county that would create more than 100 jobs.

The 36-bed hospital would be built at Ashford's Eureka Business Park.

A planning application will be made to Ashford Borough Council this autumn.

It is the idea of the Centres of Clinical Excellence, a body made up of more than 600 medical professionals, around 60 from the Ashford area, who are partners in the scheme and want to provide a new kind of healthcare.

Staff would also become partners in the new venture, gaining a share of any profits in a similar way to staff employed by John Lewis, the retail partnership.

The new hospital is one of 20 being built by CCE across the UK over the next few years. CCE is also creating new clinics, with one already in the pipeline for Whitstable and another possibly alongside the proposed hospital in Eureka Park.