HEALTH chiefs stand accused of mounting a propaganda campaign and misleading the public by masking a cutback in services at Minehead Hospital behind the announcement of a £275,000 investment.

Ageing X-ray equipment which broke down just before Christmas is to be replaced thanks to a £90,000 donation from the League of Friends and £145,000 from the Somerset Coast Primary Care Trust.

A further £40,000 from the LoF will fund a facelift of the X-ray department.

But the new equipment will not be brought in until next January at the earliest.

And at least 150 patients a year will face round trips of up to 60 miles to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton for barium 'meals' as the new machinery cannot carry out the investigation.

The practice of consultant radiologists visiting Minehead on a regular basis - halted during the problems with the X-ray equipment - will also not be reinstated.

David Slack, director of finance at the SCPCT, which runs the hospital, told concerned West Somerset district councillors at a meeting on Monday that the state of the art digital equipment would allow images to be transferred electronically to Taunton.

This would eliminate the need for visiting consultants, who had decided they could not man the service in Minehead because of staff shortages.

He said the demand for barium meals would reduce as the investigation process was being replaced by other diagnostic technologies, such as ultrasound.

Mr Slack denied there were plans to close the hospital or significantly reduce services.

Cllr Barbara Child said the changes were retrograde. "You are not giving local people a good deal. You are misleading the public by making them think they are getting a better service."

Miss Child, who experienced the problems with the X-ray department first hand earlier this year, said waiting times for consultants to view images had doubled, even trebled. A 10-day wait had now turned into a delay of two to three weeks.

But Mr Slack said many X-rays were being turned round within six working days and the new equipment would mean a maximum five-day turnaround.