Diabetics are campaigning for a new bus route round an Oxford hospital to avoid a long walk.

Patients claim it will be difficult to visit their consultants at the new Oxford Centre for Diabetes, Endocrinology and Metabolism, which is due to open in October at the Churchill Hospital in Headington. At the moment, the unit is based at the Radcliffe Infirmary, in the city centre, which has a park-and-ride bus stop directly outside the main entrance.

Patients will have to walk a minimum of 500 metres if they travel to the new centre by bus.

Doreen Levy, chairman of the Patient Involvement Group, said many people who have regular check-ups and tests had expressed concern.

"Clearly they are going to have an increased problem going to the Churchill," she said.