The family of an 86-year-old woman with cancer have spoken of their relief after she has been allowed to remain in Potters Bar Community Hospital, where she has been looked after for more than a decade.

Margaret Small, known as Peggy', was granted long-term care 12 years ago by staff at the hospital, in Great North Road, Potters Bar.

As she is paralysed, and also suffers from Parkinson's Disease, senile dementia, speech loss, obstructed airways, compromised breathing, MRSA and bed sores. She needs 24-hour care to dress her wounds, administer medicine, wash and feed her.

In August, hospital bosses - who are trying to claw back an accumulated deficit of around £12.4 million - told her family she may have to move to a nursing home in another town. Access to this facility would have been extremely difficult for her husband, Thomas Small, 87, of Elmroyd Avenue, Potters Bar. Mr Small goes to the hospital in the morning and night to feed his wife.

Mr Small received a letter last Thursday from West Hertfordshire Primary Care Trust, saying a panel had recommended that she should remain at Potters Bar Community Hospital, but the letter adds that her eligibility for continuing care is not guaranteed and will be reviewed at regular intervals.

Mr and Mrs Small's son, Peter, 46, a dental surgeon from Ipswich, said: "I feel relieved for dad that he doesn't have to worry about going to another town. He can get on with looking after mum, which is hard enough work. He has been worried sick, but he's now unsettled permanently because there's no security anymore."

To save money, health bosses recently decided to close 15 of the 45 beds at the hospital. They also agreed to sell off the Elms Clinic in High Road, Potters Bar, and transfer services to the hospital.