Staff morale at Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital has fallen.

Winchester and Eastleigh Healthcare NHS Trust members heard that responses to a survey reflected a general tone of increasing unhappiness over pressures of work and the inability of managers to obtain resources for additional staff.

Managers had been required by the trust to make savings since the beginning of the year, said Roger Farrow, clinical and diagnostic services manager.

Staff had found this corporate directive particularly frustrating in the light of increasing workloads and had "expressed themselves negatively", he said.

Mr Farrow told board members: "What I am sure they are trying to tell me is that they are feeling pressured in their workplace because there is evidence of a rising workload and local managers can't get extra staff to carry that workload."

The survey attracted only a 45.5 % response rate, down 3% on last year.

Of those who did respond, 92% felt their department had done a good job for their patients or clients; 72% felt they were valued as members of their department's team and 81% said they enjoyed their work.