ALL those who have worked so hard, over so many years, to see a new hospital built in Malvern must, like the chairman of the Malvern Hospital League of Friends, Pat Merrick, be feeling very let down today.

Supporters of the project to build a new hospital on the Seaford Court site at Worcester Road, which has been ear-marked for the purpose since 1980, genuinely expected the scheme to be given the go ahead last month.

If they were disappointed with the delay then, today's news must leave them wondering if the project has a future.

News the Primary Care Trust is to review the way it provides all its services in South Worcestershire in light of a projected £5 million overspend this year sounds ominous.

But Malvern surely NEEDS its new hospital.

Nothing could serve to underline this need more than last week's news the Ministry of Defence would like to build up to 630 new homes on North Site within the next two years.

Even if a portion of this 48-acre site is eventually allocated for new businesses, as we believe it should, there will still be many hundreds of new homes built.

Already teachers are saying the schools in Malvern couldn't cope and the same is surely true of the health services.