The General is Colchester's District Hospital and has an A&E department.  Over time it has agglomerated services from the various sites across Colchester that have closed, including those on Lexden Road and on Severalls.

The transport challenges the Hospital faces include that:

• its main vehicle access is on a residential road
• although it is serviced by bus routes it is not near or well integrated with transport hubs
• local cycling provision is poor and in particular the junctions around North Station amount to a significant barrier to cyclists travelling from South Colchester