A PRIVATE firm says it will imminently submit a planning application for a second hospital in Bicester.

In February medical developer Arkanum stepped into the long-running community hospital saga and offered to build a 30-bed facility for free.

The scheme would be in direct competition with plans by NHS Oxfordshire to replace the town’s 12-bed community hospital in Kings End with a care home and 12-bed ward, a first-aid unit, therapy centre and x-ray unit.

Cheltenham-based Arkanum say its feasibility study for a hospital at the new Kingsmere housing estate is on-going.

However, plans could include two operating theatres, 30 hospital beds, extra services such as MRI and ultrasound scans, and a care home with 65 beds.

Director John Lucken said: “The growing size and importance of Bicester merits a full-scale community hospital adding to patient choice and reducing the necessity to travel long distances for treatments.”

He said his firm was currently in discussion with the land owners, Medical Centre Developments, and would meet Cherwell District Council leaders early this month to outline their plans.

Meanwhile, NHS Oxfordshire took two designs for replacing the existing Bicester Community Hospital, in Kings End, to its board on Thursday.

A spokesman said that an announcement about who the final bidder was would be made after Easter.