THE full extent of the crisis in the NHS in Hampshire is today laid bare.

Hospital bosses have taken the extraordinary step of urging GPs to stop sending people to hospital and they may ask ambulance services to take patients further afield because they cannot cope with the demand.

Urgent meetings are taking place between Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (SUHT), the area's primary care trusts and other health bosses in a bid to resolve the crisis.

The possibility of closing the city's only accident and emergency department - an unprecedented step - has been discussed.

This would mean injured people and sick children may have to travel as far as Portsmouth to receive care and would place further pressure on Hampshire Ambulance Service.

Former health minister John Denham has insisted the crisis is a "temporary blip". However, in an e-mail to GPs, practice managers and other health care professionals, the chief executive of Southampton City Primary Care Trust, Brian Skinner, said the trust was in "dire circumstances".

He added that admittance to the city's hospitals "should be seen as a last resort".

In a similar memo sent out last week another hospital boss urged GPs to ensure "admissions are prevented where possible".

Our NHS in meltdown - see pages eight and nine of today's Southern Daily Echo