A vital piece of cancer fighting equipment, worth £2.5million, has been sitting idle and unused for almost 18 months.

The Echo has launched a campaign urging NHS England to get the hi-tech PET-CT cancer scanner up and running now.

Patients are being forced to travel from south Essex to London for treatment because of a row over where the scanner, which has been sitting at Southend Hospital since November 2014, should be based.

The row broke out after councillors and clinicians in Thurrock argued the equipment should be based at Basildon Hospital, so it is in the middle of south Essex.

The Echo says enough is enough, and it doesn't matter where the scanner is based- just get it working.