WORK to build a £100,000 kidney dialysis centre in North Oxfordshire could start within months.

Earlier this year two sites were revealed within Banbury’s Horton Hospital that had already been shortlisted to house a dialysis unit.

Now a third area – part of the hospital’s medical assessment unit – has been identified which could be converted into a renal unit for up to 20 patients.

The first two options were the old pathology department or former HR department, recently used as a temporary cancer centre while the Brodey Centre was extended.

The plans will go before health chiefs this summer and a decision could be made by September.

Once a preferred location has been agreed, renovation work is likely to start immediately.

Patients could be using the unit by the end of the year.

Banbury campaigner Miranda Berry, 51, whose husband Steven has to make a 50-mile round trip to the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, three times a week, said a dialysis centre in Banbury would be life-changing.

She said: “It’s brilliant news and would be the best present ever.

“It would be life-changing for Steven.

“They can set up dialysis at home in just a few weeks so it’s the same sort of thing really.”

Helen Morgan, 37, of Bicester, recently had a kidney transplant but previously had to travel to Oxford for dialysis.

She said: “It’s fantastic news. A lot of people at the Churchill come from Banbury and beyond.

“The travelling is actually worse than the dialysis, especially for some of the older people. It really gets them down.”

Mike Fleming, director of the Horton Hospital, said: “We have done a full analysis of the two locations we were previously looking at, and we believe that they both remain suitable.

“However, we have more recently been developing plans to build on the success of our medical assessment unit with the creation of a new and larger emergency assessment unit.

“This is likely to free up some clinical space and this would be a more advantageous area for renal dialysis on the Horton site.”

He added: “This new location is now being assessed as a high priority so that we can compare it to the other two possible locations.

“We hope to be able to make a final decision on the best plan very shortly and to start work as soon as possible.

“The trust remains very committed to the development of a renal dialysis unit on the Horton.”