A MALVERN man has written to prime minister Tony Blair urging him not to let the town's psychiatric day hospital close.

Ken Carver, of Gloucester Close, is worried by rumours that St Anne's Orchard, at Link Top, could be shut.

He has also started a petition and was this week gathering signatures, This, too, will be sent to Tony Blair.

Worcestershire Mental Health Partnership Trust, which runs St Anne's Orchard, is currently looking at proposals to modernise its services.

Mr Carver, a former patient, whose wife still goes to St Anne's Orchard, said: "It would be a disaster if they closed it down. People would have to go to Newtown in Worcester.

"Staff and patients are really worried about what would happen."

The trust's statement about its modernisation proposals does not mention St Anne's Orchard by name. But it says it hopes to increase the use of "Home Treatment Services" and divert people away from hospitals.

A trust spokesman said this week: "There are no plans to close any facility."

Mr Carver is also worried that the Touchstone Day Centre, Geraldine Road, is also under threat. But this week a spokesman for Worcestershire County Council, which operates the centre, said there were no plans to close the centre.