MENTAL health beds in Basingstoke may have to close because of financial pressures and a shortage of staff.

A meeting of the health trust, which now runs Parklands Hospital in Basingstoke, heard that the spiralling cost of hiring staff from agencies to fill gaps will have to be curtailed.

Mental health director Mick Tutt warned board members of the Surrey Hants Borders NHS Trust: "We have to think about levels we can realistically staff and not keep pretending."

He said that on Hawthorns ward in Parklands, only 50 per cent of staff were permanent employees.

The board members were told by Gerald Hunt, their director of finance, that the trust was £1.1 million overspent and would have to pull the accounts back into balance.

Mr Tutt said managers had now been set limits on what they could spend on agency staff who cost more than NHS employees. He added that if reductions in the number of beds became necessary, then there would have to be discussions with Primary Care Trusts providing the money. GPs would have to be told quite frankly what the position was.

Mr Tutt compared the situation with that of acute non-psychiatric hospitals, which were prepared to close down entire wards because of a lack of staff.

However, he told The Gazette: "I don't think it will come to that. What we are talking about is discussions with Primary Care Trusts and social services to minimise risks of reduction in service."

Mr Tutt said some patients with physical as well as mental health problems might have to be admitted to Basingstoke hospital.

He said there was a particular problem with recruitment in Basingstoke, which was a very expensive place to live for newly-qualified staff, but was not felt to have many attractive features.

Trust chief executive Fiona Green said the moves would not compromise patient care, which was the trust's duty. She added: "We are not going blindly into service reductions and savings."