Health managers have revealed plans to move Wantage Hospital out of the town, despite a £160,000 refurbishment.

South West Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust has announced it is considering relocating the hospital from Garston Lane to an unnamed site.

The move follows plans by GPs to move the neighbouring Wantage Health Centre to a site off Mably Way, Grove.

The plans have been criticised by patient groups, who fear the new centre would be difficult to reach. A final decision has not yet been made.

Trust spokesman Ally Green said: "We have a long-term plan for the hospital and health centre to look for new premises."

She added the move was being considered because the present site was not big enough.

Workmen are putting the finishing touches to refurbishment at the hospital, which provides respite services for patients recovering from operations and has a 24-hour minor injuries unit.

Clinical nurse manager Clare Periton said: "The hospital hadn't been refurbished for over ten years, the walls were dirty and curtains didn't match."

Cllr Jenny Hannaby, the mayor of Wantage and a member of the hospital's League of Friends, said she hoped the refit would ensure its future on the site.

"This is a very much loved hospital in Wantage and I would be very unhappy if it were to move to Grove," she said.

"We definitely don't want to see an end to medical services in Wantage. We will continue to campaign to make sure that doesn't happen."

In 1998, Oxfordshire Health Authority wanted to close six of the hospital's 24 beds but this was overturned following an appeal to the then Health Secretary, Frank Dobson.