CONCERNS have been raised about the slow progress of the Thornbury Hospital rebuild project.

Community leaders have told the Gazette they are increasingly worried about delays in the scheme, which they believe is stalling again.

Cllr Maggie Tyrrell, a Thornbury town councillor and member of the Thornbury Hospital Steering Group, said: "This is going on and on we are getting nervous that it's just delay after delay that will eventually lead nowhere, because other priorities in the NHS will take over. The Frenchay project has overtaken us.

"The project seems to be a very low priority on some people's agendas."

In June 2008 NHS South Gloucestershire said work already completed on plans, finance and services for the new hospital had to be redone, and released a new target date of 2012.

However, two years on and the health authority has said it now hopes to submit a strategic outline case on proposed services to its Trust Board this autumn.

It is not known how much a rebuild of Thornbury Hospital would cost and a question mark still remains over what services would be available, though they could include a minor injuries unit, outpatient, day services such as renal dialysis and inpatient services.

Steve Webb, MP for Thornbury and Yate, said with the new coalition government looking to cut public spending, it was important for the project to regain momentum.

He said: "Whilst I'm sure there's a lot going on behind the scenes, the lack of information and the lack of clear sense of progress is becoming increasingly worrying.

"I am meeting with the PCT later this month and this will be one of the key issues I will be raising."

Robert Knibbs, director for the hospital project with NHS South Gloucestershire, said: "We are continuing to plan community health services for Thornbury, Frenchay, Cossham and Yate. "The development of these community services is staggered to tie in with the centralisation of specialist hospital services at the new hospital at Southmead. "Thornbury is an important piece of this jigsaw and we are committed to taking this work further. "When we have developed the Strategic Outline Case we will be able to give an estimate of when community services will be in place for Thornbury. "It is not possible to give an estimate ahead of the Strategic Outline Case because its contents will give us an indication of how long it will take to get community services up and running."