FEARS have lifted over the future of the accident and emergency department at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital in Winchester.

There were concerns that the closer ties between Winchester and Southampton hospitals would lead to the unit closing.

Winchester people feared the closure of casualty could see lives lost, with ambulances having to drive 15 miles further.

But now a joint report from health bosses in Winchester and Southampton say the unit will stay. The partnership report looks at closer co-operation and skills sharing between the two health providers.

It includes a joint statement from chief executives David Moss, of Southampton University Hospitals Trust, and Rod Halls, of Winchester and Eastleigh NHS Healthcare Trust.

It says: "The partnership recognises that not all services can or should be provided in every location and that some organisations are better equipped to provide some services than others . . . some services will move from their current locations."

A RHCH spokesman said no decisions had been taken about which services would move. The future of maternity, paediatric, special care and accident and emergency was confirmed.

The spokesman said: "We had an independent review of A&E which said it needed to continue in Winchester. The upshot of that is that we have taken on a second consultant that we needed to meet the junior doctors' training requirements."

She said the aim of the partnership was to improve healthcare. "The idea is about doing the best work in the best place. There is no point in doing things badly for the sake of doing them."

The report said the Winchester trust's core purpose would be: A&E, acute general medicine, acute general surgery, obstetrics and acute paediatrics.

The two A&E consultants are Joseph McKeever, who started this month, and Sakaldip Singh.

The report on the Winchester-Southampton partnership will go before the NHS watchdogs, the community health council, on Monday.