SOUTHAMPTON health chiefs have been handed an extra £6m boost by the Government to help tranform a city hospital into a community health centre.

The cash will go towards the redevelopment of the Royal South Hants (RSH) site, which is being converted into a new super-surgery.

Southampton City Primary Care Trust (PCT) has been allocated the money from an overall pot of £50m pledged by health minister Andy Burnham.

The PCT has already invested £1.8m developing the newly re-named Fanshawe Wing, previously the radiotherapy department, to house the Nicholstown GP surgery and Newtown dental practice.

The Fanshawe Wing will also be the venue for the city's third Walk-in Centre, which the trust plans to open this summer.

Over a period of time GP surgeries, dentists, nurses, dieticians, physiotherapists and other primary care health professionals will move to the RSH where they will work with community hospital services including elderly care rehabilitation wards.

Hampshire Partnership NHS Trust will also press ahead with its plans to develop a brand new purpose-built adult mental health inpatient unit to replace Department of Psychiatry.

Southampton City PCT chief executive Brian Skinner said: "This is fantastic news. This money will enable us to refurbish our community wards to provide a modern NHS therapeutic environment, provide a new, state-of-the-art therapy and community assessment unit."

John Denham, Labour MP for Southampton Itchen, said: "It means a lot of important but less serious conditions can be dealt with here and enable the general hospital to concentrate on emergency and vital surgery work.''