Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust announced in October that the unit in Willowbrook Health Centre, Cottingham Road, was due to start opening on Saturdays and Sundays from November.

But so far weekend opening hours have not started.

A spokesman for the trust said: "It is looking like new year for the extended opening times to start."

The setback follows news that plans for a new Willow Brook Health complex have been put back two years. The £33m unit, which will replace the existing health centre, will now not open until 2011.

The trust was not available for comment yesterday to comment on why the minor injuries unit is not opening at weekends as planned.

Mary Murray, 74, of Kiel Walk, Corby, said: "I use it occasionally for blood tests.

"For minor things I don't think it makes much difference having the unit. However, if someone has something more serious it would be a good idea to open it for three hours at least at the weekend.

"People have to go all the way to Kettering General Hospital and people don't always have transport.

"They need to build a hospital in Corby."

Medical staff at the unit treat people between 8am and 6pm, Monday to Friday, who have cuts, burns, sprains and strains .

It opened in September 2005 and was earmarked for closure in 2006 due to a £44m health service deficit in Northamptonshire.

Both Northamptonshire Primary Care Trust and Kettering General Hospital NHS Trust agreed to keep the unit open last November, as long as savings were made elsewhere to help achieve financial balance.

It was anticipated that about 30 people a day would use the unit but now it regularly sees between 30 and 55 patients daily.

The move to open at weekends has come as part of a raft of measures the trust has proposed to improve access to health service for patients in Corby.