HOSPITAL bosses have today denied that patient care will be compromised as they battle to make up a £4.3m shortfall.
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust has put together a raft of cost-cutting measures to try and make savings by the end of March.
The government will penalise the trust if it is found to be more than £3m in debt next April.
But today the man in charge of Royal Hospital Haslar, Queen Alexandra and St Mary's Hospitals said there were no immediate plans to close beds or cancel operations.
Alan Bedford, trust chief executive said: "We do have to take firm action to reduce the projected overspend but the board will not compromise the safety of our patients.
"We must though reduce the overspend if the trust is going to be stable enough to really build on all the improvements of the past 18 months.''
A vacancy freeze has already been put in place and all non-vital staff training will be cancelled until April next year.
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