A NEW rehabilitation ward has opened in Haslar to help cut waiting lists and prevent bed blocking.

The 12 beds are being funded by a one-off government grant of £100,000 to help ease the pressure on hospital beds at Queen Alexandra and St Mary's.

The first few patients arrived last week and Sue Robson, director of planning at Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, expects all the beds to be filled within the next few weeks.

The rehabilitation beds will be for patients who no longer need an acute hospital bed but who are too ill to return home.

Six of the Haslar rehabilitation beds will replace those at St Mary's which will now be used as medical beds.

Mrs Robson said: "The beds are a real winner for patients. They should eventually enable patients to look after themselves."

The government chose to give some of its so called "hotspot money" to Portsmouth Hospitals' NHS Trust after it was found to have one of the highest bed occupancy rates in the country.

The future of the rehabilitation beds will be reviewed in April when the trust will decide whether it can continue to pay for them.

Mrs Robson said: "The government money is for this financial year only. We are using it broadly to reduce the pressure on beds on a pilot basis. We will need to evaluate how the system works and see how we can fund them next year."

Councillor Peter Edgar, Save Haslar Taskforce spokesman, said the latest addition to Haslar proved the community's need for the hospital. He added: "I am delighted that the mothballed facilities are being used. It's a move in the right direction."

The health trust will have to foot the bill for the manpower and care services.