Plans to turn Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital into a state of the art teaching centre have been unveiled.

The idea for the project was the brainchild of the Southampton University Hospitals Trust after it announced plans to expand its own medical school and develop a new graduate fast-track programme.

While the project is expected to cost over £4m, the increased number of students using the Winchester hospital is expected to generate an annual income of £1.4m.

Chief executive Rod Halls said: "These are exciting times. The medical school plans come hot on the heels of news that the Diagnosis and Treatment Centre has got the go-ahead. Projects like this and others in the pipeline are hugely important in the future development of general hospital services in Winchester."

Although the proposals were approved at a meeting of the Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare Trust this week the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority need to approve them and are expected to do so later this year.

Barbara North, chairwoman of the trust said: "This is very exciting in terms of the strategic future. I know how important it is to educate clinical staff in this new NHS."

If the strategic health authority approve the plans the hospital will expand its facilities to include a student common room, ward based seminar rooms and a clinical skills library.

The hospital currently teaches undergraduates in their fifth year but the increased intake expected to begin in September 2004 will mean an extra 40 medical school students on site.

As they work through the course and the trust takes on more students the number will increase to around 130 by 2006.