HOSPITAL chiefs who have agreed a £9 million NHS bid to pay for a major facelift at Kidderminster Hospital have been slammed for "scandalously" wasting taxpayers' money.

An outline of an acute hospitals trust board plan to go before Worcestershire Health Authority this week involves a big injection of funds into an ambulatory care centre with a minor injuries unit, general out-patients and one-stop clinic.

But Save Kidderminster Hospital Campaign leader Dr Richard Taylor hit back at the scheme.

He says it is not the blue-light service that Wyre Forest people want but "an experiment in safety".

The trust's business plan would boost supporting services to include day-case facilities for surgery, radiology and diagnostic units.

Also included are a midwifery-led birth centre, cancer care, renal dialysis, rehabilitation and intermediate beds.

Offices and a clinic for the Primary Care Group Trust would also be included.

The bid for the upgrading scheme would still have to go before the regional NHS trust executive but it is hoped it could be in place as early as next winter.

Acute hospitals trust chief executive Ruth Harrison said GPs and health professionals in Wyre Forest would be involved in discussions on the level of care they would like to see in the district.

Wyre Forest MP David Lock, who was involved in drawing up the business plan, said E Block would become the core of the hospital.

He said B Block would be retained to allow space needed for possible further specialist services.

The scheme unveiled at a trust board meeting came under attack from Dr Taylor who said no questions had been raised about safety despite it being "the only such unit in the UK miles from an acute general hospital".

He said: "The cost of gutting the five-year-old £14 million E Block to provide this untried, unnecessary and locally unwanted facility is a staggering £9 million of taxpayers' money."

He added: "The provision of an A&E facility as recommended in the King's Fund Report and made acceptable to local doctors is the only way to satisfy local people's anxieties."