WEST Worcestershire MP Sir Michael Spicer has demanded a statement about Malvern's new hospital from Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Details of how Seaford Court, in Worcester Road, could be turned into a 28-bed hospital will be laid before South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust next month.

It will then be discussed at the trust's joint professional executive committee/board meeting the following month.

But Sir Michael wants the hospital's future discussed as a matter of urgency.

"I think it's time to bring the whole matter to a head," he said. "It has been rumbling along for many years."

Alex Stewart-Cleary, a member of the project team that is drawing up a business plan for the new hospital, said he hoped money would be found within the NHS budget for the work, rather than see it funded by private finance initiative (PFI).

"We badly need a new hospital," he said.

"It would not only be for Malvern, it's for the whole area - Colwall, Upton, Kempsey."