LUCY Baldwin Hospital is set to be transformed into a new 22-bed centre complete with a Day Hospital - but plans are still sketchy.

The development team - which includes staff, social services and a patients' relatives group - meets for the first time next week to start deciding what shape the public-private partnership scheme will take.

Several speakers at the meeting questioned the absence of a partner or an architect'sor business plan given the time it will take to gain planning permission.

Health chief Sue Hunt - who was handed a 2,272-signature petition against the unit's permanent closure - said a project timetable would be drawn up but added even if permission were not granted until next spring the hospital will still shut. It will close from next month for up to two years. The Day Hospital will remain open until plans for its replacement are approved.

Mrs Hunt was also put on the spot about the partnership arrangement, which will see a private nursing home built on the site.

Wyre Forest district councillor Reg Johnstone claimed Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester - built under the Private Finance Initiative - will cost taxpayers seven times the original capital cost when it is eventually paid off.

But Mrs Hunt, who said the Lucy Baldwin scheme would be much simpler, said it was the only way the development could take place.