HOSPITAL campaigners have gathered more than 10,000 signatures in an 18-month campaign to guarantee the future of Bicester Hospital. And now they are ready to hand it in.

The signatories are calling for the town’s new hospital to be built at Kingsmere, off Oxford and Middleton Stoney Roads.

Members of the Save Our Community Hospital campaign have manned a stall most Saturdays collecting signatures in support of the so-called south west option.

On Monday, campaigners will travel to NHS Oxfordshire’s offices in Oxford, to hand the petition to chief executive Sonia Mills.

Campaigners favour the site as it would allow services to be expanded – ensuring its long-term survival Other options include building a new hospital on its current site in Kings End, and on a former council depot site, off London Road.

The current hospital is about 100 years old and is no longer “fit for purpose” according to health chiefs. Some services are housed in portable buildings.

The rebuild was ann-ounced in 1998 but has been held up by negotiations over land sales.

Campaign leader councillor Les Sibley, a member of Bicester Town Council and Cherwell District Council, said: “We are hoping the petition and surveys do not fall on deaf ears. This is a golden opportunity to get the health facilities that an expanding town like Bicester deserves.”

NHS Oxfordshire spokeswoman Cathryn Bullimore said: “Throughout the project to redevelop the hospital it has been vital to listen to what the community has to say.”

The health authority will consider the business case for the hospital at a meeting on Thursday.