HEALTH bosses in Worcestershire are celebrating after landing a £5m windfall from the Government.

The cash bonanza was announced as part of a £36m nationwide package to improve and modernise health services.

Money will be spent on new facilities at Worcester and Kidderminster.

Worcestershire Health Authority finance director Mike Ridley said the money would be split £3m to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and £1m to Worcestershire Community and Mental Health NHS Trust with £1m on the transition of services.

"The money for the acute trust is underpinning service changes outlined in Investing in Excellence," he said.

"And the £1m to the community trust will maintain things like community mental health teams which are fairly crucial to underpinning the changes."

Health authority chief executive, Pat Archer-Jones said she was delighted that Worcestershire had been earmarked to receive an extra £5m as a special allocation of funding for the next financial year 2001-2002.

"It is encouraging that the Secretary of State for Health has recognised the special health care needs in the county," she said.

"We are taking major strides here in modernising services and improving the quality of care but all of this takes time.

"These funds will be used to manage the transition into the new facilities in Worcester and Kidderminster and will give much welcome relief to the financial pressures that the acute trust and the health authority have been experiencing."