More patients are set to receive community-based treatment for a range of conditions when new services are provided in Thornbury as part of a Bristol-wide health service shake-up.

Thornbury is due to get a new community hospital, which should be up and running in 2012 before Frenchay Hospital is downgraded and the new super-hospital at Southmead opens.

A project board was set up to assess the health and social care needs of Thornbury and the surrounding area, whose residents are likely to use the updated facilities in the town.

The board's role is to recommend the health services commissioned at the Thornbury Hospital site and in the community once acute services at Southmead are expanded.

It has produced a draft report which said there could be scope for locating some aspects of cancer diagnosis and follow-up care into community facilities closer to people's homes.

People with cancer and their relatives could be given help and support and the report also said: "After a heart attack or cardiac surgery, suitable patients may be referred for a programme of cardiac rehabilitation."

Based on GP figures, there may be slightly higher rates of circulatory disease and dementia than the rest of South Gloucestershire.

That is likely to be because it has a higher proportion of elderly people and fewer young adults.

Plans for the hospital should be ready for submission by next spring.