HEALTH chiefs hope to hear within days whether threatened health centre projects in Malvern and Upton-upon-Severn can be saved.

Plans for the new centres were put on hold when South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust was told it could not have the cash to pay for them.

But trust chairman David Barlow said it was now hoping to get money from a separate Department of Health fund, the "pooled budget".

"We will be informed by the Strategic Health Authority whether we have succeeded," he said. The trust expects to hear by Monday, March 15.

If unsuccessful, he said the trust would continue the fight to have funding restored.

He warned that if surgery facilities were not improved, practices may be forced to close their lists and not accept new patients.

The projects affected are the new Upton surgery, the relocation of Malvern's Victoria Park and Court Road surgeries to Pickersleigh Road and moving the Avenue Road surgery to Townsend Way.

Dr James Mather, of Court Road, said he still hoped the move would go ahead.

"A lot of work has been done on this and Malvern Hills District Council has bent over backwards to help us. It would look pretty silly if it didn't go ahead," he said.

Mr Barlow said the rules had been changed so that projects not in by September 30 would not be funded, but the PCT had only been informed of the change by the Department of Health in November.

The new surgery projects had missed that deadline by a matter of days.

Mr Barlow admitted that in hindsight not revealing the problem until last week may have been a mistake.

"We were working hard to solve the problem and really hoped we could pull it off," he said.

The Department of Health would not comment on its role in the decision.

Malvern Hills District Council this week unanimously approved a motion calling for the cash to be provided.

MP Sir Michael Spicer was sufficiently worried about the future of the new Malvern Community Hospital project that he asked health secretary John Reid for reassurance.

The reply said South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust remained committed to developing the new hospital.