PATIENTS from Petersfield may face even longer waits for treatment after news that 250 military medical staff may be taken out of Portsmouth hospitals if Britain goes to war with Iraq.

Military doctors, nurses, technicians and theatre staff working at Queen Alexandra and St MaryÕs hospitals, as well as the Royal Hospital Haslar, could be deployed leaving a gap in services from the Portsmouth hospitals.

But this week the Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust announced that contingency plans were being drawn up to cope if the staff are called to serve abroad.

Last week representatives from the hospitals concerned met officials from the Department of Health to discuss how services would be affected and measures to combat the problem.

Chief executive of the Portsmouth Hospitals Trust, Alan Bedford, said: ÒThe military staff who work within this trust have very important duties at times like this. We sympathise with the anxieties they must feel about what may or may not happen. The trust, with the support of the Department of Health, will continue to provide the full range of services.Ó

He said constructive discussions had been held between the Portsmouth hospitals and the Department of Health about how the NHS would work to minimise the impact if the military medical staff were deployed.

A spokesman for the trust said every avenue would be pursued to ensure that all current services were continued through any conflict.

Among contingency plans being considered were the buying of services from the private sector, taking patients to other National Health hospitals and acquiring locums to carry out the duties of the medical staff.

ÒOur priority is to ensure that planned treatment for our patients goes ahead and that each department can fulfill its responsibilities,Ó said the spokesman.

ÒAlthough at this stage we do not know many specific details, we are looking at how we can replace staff who may be called away or how we may be able to provide extra work, for example operations, in-house or outside the trust. If the trust needs to take these extra measures it will not be at the cost of the local NHS.Ó

She added: ÓThe NHS is used to contingency planning and always tries to plan ahead for difficult situations.Ó