Closing West Cornwall Hospital was one of the options discussed

The casualty unit at West Cornwall Hospital was saved from closure after a huge campaign by local people in 2001.

But campaigners are concerned about possible cuts to services after being shown documents obtained by the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act.

They show a list of possible cuts and changes, including ending emergency cover at the West Cornwall in Penzance.

'Horror movie' scenario

The documents were part of a presentation to some medical staff and managers in May 2005 listing several options about the future of the West Cornwall Hospital and St Michael's Hospital in Hayle.

Under the heading "First Cut Option" for West Cornwall Hospital, the top of the list was "stop all emergency work" with the second option being to close the hospital.

Under the same heading for St Michael's Hospital, the first option is "Close SMH". The second is "change to non-clinical function".

The trust's deficit has risen from �8.1m in March to �15.7m

Dr Mike Coupe, the director of planning for the trust said the documents related to an update of the 2001 strategy for hospital services in Cornwall, which teams had been working on for 18 months.

This included plans announced last November for a new �15m hospital in the west of the county on a different site to the existing hospital.

He said the options for St Michael's Hospital had not been taken any further, while proposals for the development of the Royal Cornwall Hospital were still being worked on.

A deficit of �8.1m announced by the trust in March has now nearly doubled to �15.7m.

This has fuelled campaigners' worries about the levels of emergency cover and service provision for the area in the future.

Nicholas Round, spokesman for the local West Cornwall Health Watch, said: "It's not good news that 12 months ago the hospital trust's management was sitting down and developing scenarios for a horror movie - no services for the normal emergencies of any patient's life west of Truro."