DETAILED plans for new hospitals in Devizes and Malmesbury are due to be published at the end of this year.

The Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust board agreed at a meeting last Thursday that business cases for both hospitals should be produced by the end of December.

A project board has been set up to work on the Malmesbury plan which will include trust chief executive Barbara Smith, GPs, hospital staff and councillors.

The project board for Devizes is in the process of being set up and the trust has said that there will be places for members of DASH2, the campaign group Devizes Action to Save Our Hospital, which was set up to fight for services at the proposed new hospital.

The boards will meet monthly and updates will be given to the monthly board meetings of the trust.

The plans for new hospitals in Devizes and Malmesbury are dependant on attracting nursing homes on both sites.

If this is achieved, new hospitals could be built in both towns by December 2005.

The next meeting of the trust's board, which is open to the public, is on September 23 at Southgate House, Pans Lane, Devizes, at 2.30pm.