Sixty-six Winchester health workers have been made redundant following the closure of offices at Friarsgate, in the city centre.

The NHS shut down its Primary Care Support Services HQ for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, based at Coitbury House, believing it was about to be redeveloped as part of the - now on hold - Silver Hill project.

The branch's records storage and distribution centre at Winnall, Winchester, was also closed.

All the office's work has been shifted to Reading, where agency staff have been taken on to cope with the extra workload.

A source, who declined to be named, told the Hampshire Chronicle: “This came as a result of the Silver Hill development debacle and the ongoing NHS Public Procurement process for NHS Family Health Services now called Primary Care Support Services.

“Due to the uncertainty of the development and lack of clear information from the council a decision was made to transfer back office Family Health Services to Reading in order to safeguard services to Hampshire GPs, opticians, dentists and pharmacists as well as patients.”

An NHS spokesman said: “Primary Care Support Services vacated Coitbury House at the end of January as we were advised that the building and surrounding area was subject to imminent redevelopment.

“In order to ensure a continuation of services, we relocated our service to the PCS offices based in Reading. This meant that 66 members of staff were made redundant.

“The closure of the Coitbury House office also meant that the nearby records store at Winnall had to close.

“The additional work at Reading has meant that some agency staff have been recruited to support the increased workload.”