BOSSES at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, are hoping to win almost £80 million of taxpayers' cash to build a new surgical centre.

They have drawn up plans for the development on the site of a number of old wards built during the Second World War that are no longer considered fit for purpose.

A bid will be made for a slice of a £3.6 billion kitty announced by the Chancellor Philip Hammond in his Autumn Budget.

Taunton Deane MP Rebecca Pow has been granted an End of Day Adjournment Debate tomorrow (Thursday), when she will put the case for the proposed facility.

Dr Stuart Walker, chief medical officer at Musgrove, said: "We welcome Rebecca Pow’s support for the new surgical centre at Musgrove Park Hospital which will be an important development for the hospital and the community.

"A business case has been developed for the plans and we are now waiting for the opportunity to submit a bid for the money that was announced in the Autumn Budget."

In a speech in the House of Commons last Wednesday, Ms Pow told fellow MPs how Musgrove still uses "a pre-1948 intensive care unit and theatres" in parts of the hospital built during the war by the Americans.

She added: "There have been redevelopment plans since the 1980s, and we are still waiting.

"In the Autumn Budget, the Chancellor announced a welcome £3.6 billion investment in capital projects of that sort, and I make no bones about fully supporting the campaign to get ​new theatres at Musgrove.

"I know many people who would benefit - indeed, members of my own family have recently been treated at the hospital.

"There is a top-class team working there, producing excellent results, but those staff deserve new and better facilities.

"I believe Musgrove Park is the only hospital in the South West without updated theatres, so I ask Ministers to support it."

Ms Pow told the County Gazette that she will be launching a constituency campaign "to help demonstrate public support for the project".

The last major development at Musgrove was the £34 million Jubilee Building surgical block, containing 112 single unit bedrooms, which was opened in 2014.