Fears over the future of a hospital have been reignited with the revelation that its pathology laboratory is to close.

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTHT), which has only just published a strategy' document for Wharfedaled Hospital at Otley, plans to move the service to Leeds this year as part of a centralisation drive.

The Trust insists the change will not affect the service provided to patients and GPs in Otley.

But many have reacted angrily, claiming it is yet another example of services being stripped from the hospital.

Wharfedale Hospital Forum member Councillor Graham Kirkland (Lib Dem, Otley and Yeadon) said: "This is bad news with a capital B'.

"We now have an empty path lab and two empty wards - on which rent is still payable - in a hospital that was only opened a couple of years ago. Is that efficiency'?

The Trust said it was exploring the possibility of consolidating some services into a state-of-the-art facility at the Leeds General Infirmary later this year and that the lab's closure would not affect the hospital's phlebotomy service.

Otley MP Greg Mulholland, who recently handed over a 5,029-signature petition calling for no more cuts, said: "It is extraordinary that just two weeks ago the Trust published a document about the hospital's future yet there was no mention that pathology services might go."

The pathology plans follow a series of other blows that have rocked the £15 million facility, including a decision in December 2006 to close one of the hospital's two elderly wards and in January confirmation was given that pharmacy hours were to be cut.