Managers at scandal-hit Stafford Hospital are waiting to hear whether Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will dissolve the trust that runs it.
Administrators want Mr Hunt to scrap the Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust and move services to other hospitals.
Local people are planning a legal challenge if that decision is taken.
The trust was criticised last year by a public inquiry for the "suffering of hundreds of people" under its care. It has been in administration since April.
The inquiry, led by Robert Francis QC, revealed some patients were left lying in their own faeces for days and given the wrong medication.
The report published after the inquiry made 290 recommendations aimed at tackling the wider cultural problems in the NHS.
- A new midwife-led maternity unit at Stafford to deal with half the number of 1,800 births the hospital does now. Difficult births will be dealt with at University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust (UHNS)
- Paediatric unit would be run in conjunction with the hospital's 14-hour a day A&E unit. Sick children will be sent to the UHNS for night-time treatment
- The critical care unit would allow patients to be treated at Stafford but only if necessary staff were in place
- Hospital management could be transferred to UHNS by next autumn
In January, Monitor approved plans laid out by Trust Special Administrators (TSA) a month earlier to abolish Mid Staffordshire NHS Trust. It would be the first foundation trust to be broken up.
Under the proposals, control of Stafford Hospital would go to the neighbouring University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust (UHNS) while Cannock Hospital would be run by the Royal Wolverhampton Trust.
Services, including maternity, paediatric and critical care units at Stafford, would be downgraded.
The TSA has previously said it would take three years, from the secretary of state's agreement, to implement the proposed changes at a total cost of £220m.
The Support Stafford Hospital group said it was looking at the possibility of legal action if the decision was taken to axe the trust.
It comes after the High Court overturned the health secretary's decision to downgrade Lewisham Healthcare Trust's emergency department in July.
Diana Smith, from Support Stafford Hospital, said: "People have been talking to different legal advisors about what action we could take but I personally hope that there will be no need.
"I hope Jeremy Hunt has listened to the sensible representations that have been made to him over the last few weeks and that he's done enough to make the suggestions more acceptable to people in Stafford.
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Sue Hawkins, Save Stafford Hospital: "Stafford hospital has turned itself around"
"If he hasn't shifted position at all that opens it up for people going down the road to judicial review and things like that."
Calum Paton, who is professor of Health Policy at Keele University and a former chairman of the UHNS trust, said Mr Hunt needed to make sure the plan worked financially.
He said: "It has to be the case that the University Hospital of North Staffordshire is given the capital to make sure it can cope with the new demand at a time of extreme financial stringency in the NHS.
"The danger is the decision makers say here's the rational way to do things but one year down the track we discover it's not being funded properly."
The government has made clear there will be a full parliamentary debate over the hospital "in due course".
Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story? Please email us at haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk adding 'Stafford' in the subject heading and including your contact details.
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