VANDALS targeting NHS headquarters in Hampshire are costing more than £3,500 a week, the Daily Echo can reveal.

Security guards have had to be employed to deal with the growing yob menace.

The drastic measures were swiftly brought in following the latest attack in which £10,000 worth of damage alone was caused.

Louts went on a wrecking spree in the ground floor offices of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Strategic Health Authority in Oakley Road, Southampton.

At least 20 double-glazed windows were shattered, costing thousands of pounds to replace, and staff cars have also been damaged.

It also emerged today that threats have been made by youngsters to workers in the grounds of the building, which houses key NHS support functions such as training.

Health authority communications manager Adrian Osborne said: "Vandals have targeted this building. In just one week seven cars and more than 30 windows have been attacked. We estimate the total cost of the damage to be well over £10,000."

The organisation has now been forced to employ full-time security guards, using NHS money, to patrol the grounds of the building 24-hours a day.

Mr Osborne said: "At a cost of over £3,500 a week, these extra security measures are an unnecessary drain on NHS recourses.

"We would like to be able to put this money to better use, but it is essential that we take steps to prevent more damage to the building and continued harassment of staff."

The vandals, who are believed to live near the Millbrook offices, have been seen throwing bricks, stones and other objects at residents, staff, cars, local buses and buildings.

Main hospitals throughout the south currently employ security guards but it is unusual for administrative centres to be patrolled.

Hampshire police, despite repeated calls, were unavailable for comment.

The NHS is already cash-strapped and has tried a number of schemes - some bizarre - in a bid to save money.

Last September the Daily Echo reported how patients at the Royal South Hants Hospital in Southampton were amazed to find the building's escalators had been turned off.

People using the hospital were asked to use nearby lifts or stairs in what bosses called a "good housekeeping" move until the end of the financial year.

Later in the year there was another cost-cutting scheme that went down the toilet - literally.

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust switched its paper hand towels to a thicker variety, hoping that staff and patients would use just one, instead of two or more, to dry their hands.

But the initiative backfired when people used the towels as toilet paper instead of the cheaper, rough alternative provided, and blocked the toilets at Southampton General Hospital.

The £7,500 the trust spent unblocking the drains far outweighed the money saved in buying the more absorbent towels.

It was also reported in December how about 300 housekeeping staff at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester were told to pay for their own pink and blue uniforms because of cutbacks.

THE £3,500 being spent on security guards every week could be better spent on the following:

1,400 walking sticks

291 pairs of crutches

159 walking frames

175 GP appointments

70 hospital appointments

4 cataract implant operations

An intensive care bed for three days

A pacemaker implant operation