FRENCHAY hospital has been dealt yet another blow after a High Court bid to block an independent sector treatment centre (ISTC) failed.

The decision means that the downgrading of Frenchay hospital from a major health centre with 636 beds to a community hospital with 80 beds is likely to go ahead.

Rebecca Fudge, with support from the Save Frenchay Hospital Group, argued that a public consultation over the planned centre should have been held but judge Mr Justice Calvert Smith said the department of health as a central rather than a local health body did not need to consult.

Both parties have been given leave to appeal.

The group had hoped that if a public consultation was ruled necessary then the whole issue of healthcare provision in the region could be reopened and that Frenchay would be chosen as the main site for the "super hospital" rather than Southmead.

Spokesman for the group, Barbara Harris, said: "We will appeal this decision. Health service bodies have riden roughshod over the publics wishes. The service is already streched and we are doing everything we can to stop Frenchay being downgraded.

"We have a 48,000 signature petition and we think people could be in danger with the extra time it will take patients to get to Southmead because of traffic problems."

Communications Manager for the primary care trust (PCT), Julie Hendry, said: "The judicial review was not about the decision made around the Bristol Health Services Plan - to make Southmead a larger hospital and Frenchay a smaller community one - which was widely consulted on with local residents and patients.

"Because the judge suggested that the PCT and SHA should have consulted local stakeholders when they were considering whether an ISTC scheme might have been locally rather than centrally led, the PCT and SHA have been given leave to appeal.

"Both the PCT and SHA confirmed in evidence that there will be an engagement with the local stakeholders once the details of the proposed services - at the ISTC - are known."

The new centre, together with the decision to make Southmead hospital the main site for medical care in the area could mean that the number of NHS beds is reduced and people will have to rely on beds being available at Weston-super-Mare, the Bristol Royal Infirmary and the Royal United Hospital, Bath.

Figures from the Save Frenchay Group show that more than 1,200 beds were originally planned but this figure is already down to 947.