There has been a hospital on this site for over 100 years. A workhouse for the poor was first established here as long ago as the 15th Century. As a poor institution, it housed up to 200 paupers. In 1917 the Essex Vagrancy Committee ordered that only 'ill' people were to be admitted, and it became known as 'The Orsett Lodge Hospital'. The present buildings were built in the 1960s.The future Orsett Hospital will be a very significant health care resource for the people of Thurrock; a centre for outpatient and diagnostic services and day surgery, with a seven-day-a-week minor injuries unit.