HEALTH chiefs who are due to close The Mount Hospital at Bishopstoke a year earlier than planned come under the spotlight this week as their controversial decision is scrutinised by Hampshire County Council.

Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust has decided to axe the Bishopstoke facility 12 months ahead of schedule claiming staffing levels had become dangerously low.

But they made the decision without holding consultation with health committees and the public as is required by law. Consultation is only waivered if there is a risk to staff or patient safety.

For the first time the county council's health review committee has decided to put NHS services under the microscope.

Board members will consider whether there were adequate reason not to carry out a consultation.

The future of the hospital has been the subject of passionate debate over the last year. It had been hoped that services would not be scrapped until a new healthcare system, devised by Eastleigh and Test Valley South Primary Care Trust, was in place next summer.

From the end of August patients will now be transferred to the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester. But the decision has angered Eastleigh councillors who slammed the move as a "betrayal of local people" and a savings-motivated act.

The health review committee will also consider whether proposals to relocate elderly patients to the Winchester Hospital were appropriate and if all the other options had been fully explored.

Committee chairman, Ray Ellis, said: "The decision by Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust to close The Mount without consultation, is clearly a significant decision we need to be satisfied about."

Tomorrow's meeting is open to the public and takes place at 10am at The Castle, Winchester.