Campaigners claim the area needs more hospital services

In a letter to South Gloucestershire councillors, the department said it had considered the grounds put forward.

Health Minister Lord Warner said he saw "no reason to ask the Bristol health services plan to reconsider.

"There is no need to refer the decision to the independent reconfiguration panel," he added in the letter.

'Complete whitewash'

Reacting to Friday's news, Bristol North West MP Doug Naysmith said: "I am not surprised at the minister's response.

"It has always been clear to me that Southmead was the better choice."

But North Avon Lib Dem MP Steve Webb, said: "What we want is to serve both Bristol and South Gloucestershire - and Frenchay is already geared for large swathes of people.

"This is a complete whitewash."

The campaign to save Frenchay from being downgraded was recently taken to London when a 30,000-name petition was handed over to health secretary Patricia Hewitt.

Health bosses announced in March that Frenchay was due to become a community hospital with a new super-hospital being built on the Southmead site.