CONTINGENCY plans are being drawn up for patients facing the reality of a six-month gap in vital health services.

The Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport is due to close in May 2007, when all surgery and operations will move to the rebuilt Queen Alexandra (QA) Hospital at Cosham.

But fears that the redevelopment would not be completed in time have now been confirmed.

Primary Care Trust chief executive Ian Piper is reassuring residents over plans to continue using Haslar - even adding new services in the short-term.

He said: "We are still confident that, by the end of 2007, QA will be built and will be being operated in.

"There is this date set of May 31, 2007 for the closure of Haslar, but we believe we will be able to sit down for talks with the Ministry of Defence, and they will not move off the site until the new facilities are ready.

"This will probably mean a six or seven-month gap, so we want to continue to use Haslar until new services are available.

"I want to give a reassurance that we want to continue using Haslar. We won't be shutting up early. We are going to carry on using this facility."

Save Haslar campaigner Peter Edgar added: "This is all the more reason for Haslar to remain. It has the capacity to carry out hundreds of operations and does important work like cancer treatment.

"Even when the new hospital is finally built, we don't believe it has the capacity to cope with hugely escalating demand.

"We were looking at a seven-year project originally. Technology has come so far that we will be able to do it in two and a half."

The latest Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust report says that it is hoped the new hospital will be completed during 2007.

An accident treatment centre and other health services carried out at Haslar will continue on other sites in Fareham and Gosport.

Four public meetings on the future of healthcare issue have been added to a list of 11 dates because of the demand.