SENIOR nurses at Welwyn Garden City's QEII Hospital have been told by managers it will definitely close in five years, campaigners fighting to save it claim.

Barry Cross of the Hospital SOS Campaign says management at the trust in charge, who have not officially made a decision on whether to save the QEII or Stevenage's Lister, have already made up their minds.

He said: "There are nurses in our campaign, and they have provided us with good information in the past. The senior nurses were told last month and I have no reason to doubt them.

"Morale is so low as people feel their jobs could be at risk.

"The trust tells us we don't understand the medical imperatives but if the QEII closes, the Stevenage hospital will not cope.

"The catchment area of the QEII is quite large with people coming from Hertford and St Albans. A lot of people who go there don't have cars and they need to be able to use their local hospital.

"They have been breaking up the hospital for 18 months. A lot of services are already in Stevenage.

"But we are going to tell the management we need and want our local hospital. We want to make sure they change their minds."

Mr Cross is now organising a major demonstration for Sunday, June 10, when protestors desperate to save the QEII will be marching from Stanborough Lakes at noon to a 1pm rally at the King George V Playing Fields.

A spokesman for the East and North Hertfordshire Hospitals Trust, which governs both the QEII and Stevenage's Lister, said: "Rumours that the QEII is set to close in five years are nothing more than that.

"Neither a date for consultation nor a preferred option for the trust's acute services has been announced.

"This sort of speculation is natural, but unhelpful.

"There are advantages and disadvantages to making either the QEII hospital in WGC or the Lister Hospital in Stevenage the centre for acute services in future but there is a definite need for centralisation in order to deliver the health care that patients both deserve and demand.

"Until these issues have been discussed in public through the forthcoming three-month consultation period, no decision will be made.

"The trust can state that our staff have not been told that the QEII is set to close in five years as has been alleged by certain campaign groups."

The spokesman added that the timetable of any closure would be decided as part of the consultation, which is expected to start later this year.