WORK on a new �5million specialist heart centre is due to start in June, it has emerged.

The work at Ipswich Hospital is set to begin at some point in June, with units and wards already moving around to make way for the new service.

A spokeswoman for the Heath Road trust said: “Work on the site will begin in June. We are just starting to prepare of this by moving other units and wards to make way for the centre.

“There will be an invitation to tender and then we will assess these.

“We will make sure your business case will be formally approved and then work will begin in June.”

In February, the Star revealed the trust had secured a �5million boost from the Department of Health to invest �5m to enable the creation of a specialist elective heart centre.

The centre is the result of a three-year campaign by The Star, Ipswich MP Ben Gummer and Heartbeat East Suffolk, greatly supported by the public.

The new cardiology department will mean patients needing non-emergency care, including angioplasty, who have been cared for at Papworth Hospital in Cambridge will be treated in the town.

If all goes to plan treatment at the new specialist centre will begin in June 2013.