MEMBERS of Milford Royal British Legion are backing the campaign to keep the village's War Memorial Hospital open.

Senior members of the branch went to the hospital to see for themselves the good work carried out by staff there and to take a look at the shrine naming those people from the village who gave their lives during the Great War.

Air Marshall Sir John Curtiss is chairman of the Milford Hospital Action Group and president of the British Legion branch.

He said: "It is shameful and an insult to the memory of those who sacrificed their lives for their country and community, and were then commemorated by the building of our hospital by public subscription, that the Primary Care Trust should even consider closing it or any of its beds.

"We will fight it all the way."

New Forest PCT has tabled various options centering on closing community in patient beds at Milford-on-Sea, Hythe and the Fenwick Hospital, Lyndhurst, which is already closed on a temporary basis, in a bid to claw back an overspend of £18.9 million.

Even if it succeeds in making the saving during 2005/6, it will still have a deficit of £8.6 million next April.

The PCT says it can provide care for older people, and recovering patients, in their own homes or at clinics in community buildings. It stresses there will still be 24-hour nursing care when required.

But its key messages are: "We need to change. We are consistently spending more on healthcare than the government are giving us.

"Current services are not best for patients. Evidence shows there are better ways to provide care in 2005 and beyond."

There are four more consultation meetings planned: in Trinity Church Hall, Ringwood on September 1; All Saints Church Hall, Milford on September 15; New Milton War Memorial Hall on September 16 and in Lymington Masonic Hall on September 22.

"We are changing the format to a more interactive one so that people will feel confident and able to have their say," said a PCT spokesman.

First published: August 26