The News has obtained a leaked memo which states that Hampshire Primary Care Trust will stop the service for outpatients at Royal Hospital, Haslar, and Gosport War Memorial Hospital, next June.

The phlebotomy service – which takes blood from up to 500 people a day in Gosport and Lee-on-the-Solent – will be relocated to local GP surgeries.

Matthew Webb, the pathology manager at Royal Hospital in charge of the phlebotomy service until he retired last Friday, doubted whether surgeries would be able to cope and said that people faced longer journeys as a result.

He said: 'It is a vital service. This will have a phenomenal effect on people who use the service, which is struggling to keep up because there is so much demand.

'If this happens I think some of the patients will have to go somewhere in Fareham or even to Queen Alexandra Hospital, Cosham.

'It is a situation that will cause people so much anguish and make life incredibly difficult.'

It is not yet known which surgeries will provide the service.

After blood samples have been taken they will be taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital, as is currently the case. The service is funded by Hampshire Primary Care Trust and run by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust.

Staff will be redeployed and there are no planned redundancies. The inpatient service at Gosport War Memorial Hospital will continue as before.

Steve Marper, the divisional general manager for clinical support services at Portsmouth Hospitals Trust, is confident the service will be better as a result of the change.

He said: 'GP phlebotomy patients are not routinely seen at Queen Alexandra Hospital, nor is this planned for the future. The main basis for discussion with the PCT is to see how the service can be provided closer to home for patients, without the need for travel outside of their area.'

Inger Hebden, director of capital planning for Hampshire Primary Care Trust, said: 'We have been trialling this approach, which is very popular with patients and GPs who have been involved.

'The service would also be run on an appointment basis, meaning people will not have to queue.'

She added that blood-taking from inpatients at Gosport War Memorial Hospital would not be affected.

rob.dabrowski

@thenews.co.uk