HEALTH chiefs dropped a bombshell by announcing they will axe Bishop-stoke's Mount Hospital a year earlier than agreed.

Winchester health bosses say they will cut services at The Mount this summer - 12 months earlier than was hoped by Eastleigh and Test Valley South Primary Care Trust in recent public consultations.

The trust has defended the move saying patient safety is paramount and that there are just too few staff at the Mount to cope at a safe level.

Furious Eastleigh councillors say it is a "betrayal of local people" and claim the decision as savings-motivated.

Now, instead of cutting off services when new healthcare is in place, the hospital will close in August.

Borough councillor Anne Winstanley, said: "This is a betrayal of local people who very firmly said in consultations that they wanted to see health services for rehabilitation and respite for elderly people stay local."

She added: "The real reason for what has obviously long been planned becomes clear with the statement that £325,000 a year will be saved. Premature closure is driven by the government's calls for cash savings."

The decision means patients will go to new facilities at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester - one of the main fears voiced by residents during the consultations.

Councillor Glynn Davies-Dear said: "We were assured that the new wards being built at Winchester were not intended for relocation of The Mount inpatients. What were the new facilities at Winchester Hospital built for if they won't now be needed for another year?"

Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust said that the public had been made aware of this contingency plan from the start and that the decision was totally based on patient care.

A spokesman said: "Staffing levels have been the cause of concern at The Mount for months. We have found it increasingly difficult to ensure we can sustain safe staffing levels.

"We have to put patients first and all we are doing is moving them somewhere where we are happy and satisfied that we can maintain staffing levels."

Bishopstoke Age Concern secretary Annette Stratton said: "It all goes to show that the consultation was a complete load of rubbish. They knew all along what they were going to do."

The death knell was sounded on The Mount in May following public meetings to inform residents of a new healthcare system planned by the local PCT. Between 26 and 30 beds would replace those available at The Mount within a three-mile location of The Point at Eastleigh.

At the time PCT bosses said they would do all they could to ensure the system would be in place before services at the cash-guzzling Mount were axed.

Keith Douglas, director of modernisation at the PCT said: "The PCTs have asked for an urgent meeting with the trust to see if there is a way for the organisations to cover The Mount's staffing difficulties. If this approach fails, the PCT accepts that using Royal Hampshire County Hospital is the only viable option and the contingency plan will have to be implemented. I would like to reassure local people that it would be a temporary measure."