PROJECT manager Peter Williams has this week attempted to quell nurses' fears that outdated equipment from Savernake Hospital will be transferred to the new hospital.

Nurses held a meeting at the hospital last week to air their concerns and later one rang the Gazette to say they feared that the £8.5million rebuilding scheme would provide "just an empty shell".

The nurse, who did not want to be named, said: "There is a great concern among the nursing staff that some of the equipment they want to transfer will not be up to the job."

At Swindon's £150 million Great Western Hospital, which opened last December, most of the equipment was brand new, in part thanks to the on-going Evolution Appeal.

To keep costs to a minimum at the new Savernake Hospital, due to open in 2005, much of the equipment will be transferred from the present hospital.

But Mr Williams, who last week completed his task as the Savernake project manager and is moving on to help with the planning for new hospitals in Devizes and Malmesbury, said that replacement of all the equipment used at Savernake was unnecessary because much of it was still serviceable.

In a statement he said: "There will be a considerable amount of new equipment as part of the Private Finance Initiative deal including patient tracking in some of the bedrooms, newly equipped ward and hospital kitchens and other equipment including sanitaryware (toilets, showers etc), cupboards, shelving, curtain tracking etc.

"Much of the loose equipment will be transferred from the present hospital into the new building, for example desks, seating, patients' lockers, beds and medical equipment etc."

He acknowledged they could not afford to replace all the equipment but said a specialist company is to carry out an inventory at Savernake to pinpoint what is still serviceable.

Meanwhile, he said talks are being held with the hospital's League of Friends and the Marlborough Rotary Club to ensure any equipment shortfall is met.