Ledbury'S planned new community hospital could cost £200,000 a year more to run than was expected, according to "worst case scenario" figures put out by the Herefordshire Primary Care Group.

The PCG, which in future will be known as the Primary Care Trust, controls NHS purse strings for the whole of Herefordshire, including annual running cost for the proposed new hospital for Ledbury.

Although the PCG is backing the hospital development, a report put together by the body's finance manager, Marcia Pert, shows that the £550,000 earmarked to run the new hospital each year, already £62,000 more than the £488,000 provided for the existing cottage hospital, will not be enough.

Considerations such as the uncertain cash demands on the minor injury unit, putting the GPs' surgery into the hospital, and the likely cost of "unquantified" information technology, such as computers, means the new hospital could cost £200,000 more to run each year than the old one, especially in the first few years.

The PCG chief executive, Simon Hairsnape said: "It sounds a lot of money but it's not money coming from any existing finance. My PCG has a budget of £100m for the whole of the county and we are looking for that to increase.

"We have noted that additional resources may be involved. Next year we will put aside extra funding for Ledbury. You never know how much it's going to cost until the thing is open. That £200,000 is the worst case scenario in the initial few years, but it could be less than that."

Finance manager Marcia Pert said the development would present "a significant challenge to the Primary Care Trust," but added: "The development offers the opportunity to provide integrated and high quality patient care."

Former Ledbury town councillor Sylvia Pick, who has been opposed to the hospital plans, said of the running costs shortfall: "It doesn't surprise me. All I can say is, I told you so. It's a very expensive way to do it. This is a contracted NHS service and it will cost a great deal of money. I'm highly pessimistic about the whole thing."