PARENTS working for the NHS in Wyre Forest could be given a major lifeline as plans are announced to build a nursery at Kidderminster Hospital.

The £350,000 building would cater for 50 children and help overcome "recruitment difficulties" facing the district's services, according to health chiefs.

A bid has been put in to the West Midlands South Workforce Develop-ment Confederation for the money to build the facility at Brooklyn House at the hospital on Bewdley Road.

The nursery could be open by July next year and help "parents who work, or want to work in the NHS", according to a report submitted to Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust.

Kidderminster Hospital has no childcare facilities even though 70 per cent of the female staff were of "childbearing age", the report said.

A nursery opened last year at Worcestershire Royal Hospital was now full while "nurseries closest to the hospital are full and have no vacancies until the autumn".

The report read: "Over half of all NHS staff in Worcestershire work part time or flexible hours and because of the rural areas within Worcestershire also travel large distances as part of their working day.

"Many of these staff require a flexible childcare service that can take into account these particular needs."

The nursery would be used by employees of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, Wyre Forest Primary Care Trust, Herefordshire and Worcestershire Ambulance Trust and Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.