MENTAL health bosses want to know what you think of plans to build a £9m centre at Great Western Hospital.

All mental health services for older people will switch from Victoria Hospital to Great Western Hospital under the proposals.

The go-ahead has already been given by the Avon, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Strategic Health Authority and a two-week public consultation period ends at noon on Monday, May 23.

After that plans for the Swindon Intermediate Care Unit will go to Swindon Council, which will decide whether to grant planning permission.

Bosses say the state-of-the-art plans drawn up by Bristol-based architects Kendall Kingscott could become reality by early 2008. Sites across Swindon were examined during 2004.

Malcolm Sinclair, director of Mental Health Services for Swindon and Wiltshire, explained why change is needed.

He said: "The Victoria Hospital is very old and outdated and was not designed for modern mental healthcare.

"The layout is inadequate and confusing and it does not comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, which poses real difficulties for many of our patients. The new building will be purpose-built and will provide much more privacy and dignity for patients."

The Old Town hospital opened in 1887 and was converted for use for mental health services in 1993.

The plans can be viewed in the atrium of GWH until the end of the consultation period.