A MASSIVE new health scheme in Winchester will remain only a quarter finished until extra funding can be secured.

The £6m treatment centre at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital is set for completion in early 2005.

The treatment centre will occupy the top floor of a £20m four-storey development but the three floors underneath will be empty for possibly several years.

Hospital boss Rod Halls said at one stage the bottom three storeys were going to only have the basic structure in place and not even be brick-lined.

Mr Halls said: "The treatment centre will occupy the top floor. We haven't got enough money yet to finish the other three floors.

"At one point we didn't have enough money to put bricks on them. But we have scrabbled enough money for that. There won't be anything inside because we haven't got the money to finish them."

Mr Halls said the trust's plan to gain foundation status would enable it to increased freedom to borrow money, up to £14m, to finish the building.

If the trust fails to achieve foundation status it may face serious problems in meeting the shortfall.

Mr Halls, chief executive of the Winchester and Eastleigh NHS Healthcare Trust, said it was decided to be better to build a four-storey building now instead of a single-storey one and then have the expense of then redeveloping it.

Once completed in two to three years, the three floors will house the outpatients department, medical records, pharmacy, and the new cancer unit which is the subject of a £2m public appeal.

However another issue is the ongoing negotiations with the local primary care trusts to ensure the treatment centre receives enough money to have enough staff to work fully efficiently.

It is the second biggest treatment centre scheme in England and the government is interested to see how the proposed collaboration works with Southampton. Under the link-up patients from Southampton will be treated in Winchester and vice-versa.

The treatment centre will play a major role in reducing waiting times for thousands of patients a year, cutting bed-blocking and hitting government targets. Some 7,500 more operations a year and 7,500 endoscopies, internal examinations, will be carried out.

Mr Halls said: "It is a very good scheme, a great advantage to the hospital and a great advantage to the people who use it."

He was speaking on Monday night at the first annual general meeting of the new body that acts as watchdogs for the public. Called the Patient and Public Involvement Forum, it replaced the Community Health Council last December.

The meeting at Badger Farm community centre was attended by about 25 people.

Other major changes are coming soon at the RHCH. In another centre with hospitals in Southampton a £3.5m medical school is being built at the RHCH, opening from October and training 40 doctors a year.

Mr Halls said: "This is one of the best developments for Winchester, better even that the treatment centre. Having bright young things coming through and asking questions and keeping the place vibrant and modern."

He urged the people at the meeting to support its bid for foundation status. Letters have been sent to 140,000 local people urging them to support foundation status.