MARCH 15: WAR casualties will be treated at Swindon's new hospital under government plans to prepare for conflict in Iraq.

The 541-bed Great Western Hospital, given its proximity to military casualty reception centres at RAF Lyneham and RAF Brize Norton, is almost certain to be involved in dealing with battlefield injuries.

Plans drawn up by the Ministry of Defence and Department of Health officials state that casualties would be treated first in military field hospitals before being flown home to receive further care in NHS hospitals.

Injured soldiers would be divided between a number of hospitals around the country to ease the burden on the NHS, with some patients being transferred to specialist hospitals, such as the specialist burns unit at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Swindon's GWH has been placed on a list of at least 14 hospitals likely to share the task of treating servicemen who have been evacuated from the war zone.

Overseeing the NHS response to an influx of battlefield casualties in the South West is Theresa Cash, a spokeswoman for Avon Gloucestershire and Wiltshire Health Authority.

She explained: "I am not able to say specifically which hospitals would be used, but the fact that Swindon has a large newly-built hospital is significant. You can draw your own conclusions."

"We obviously have to prepare for any contingency and that includes the possibility of casualties from a possible conflict in Gulf."

Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust spokesman Chris Birdsall confirmed that staff was ready and able to deal with injured troops.

He said: "If we are called upon to treat any casualties we will provide them with the same high standard of care and treatment that we give to any other patient, but we all sincerely hope that it does not come to that."

GWH and other hospitals around the country have been told not to set aside wards or beds for soldiers who would be treated alongside civilian patients.

The NHS has shouldered the task of caring for war casualties since 1998.

Meanwhile, the deployment of British troops to the Gulf has forced the postponement of Defence 2003, part of the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford.

The event would have seen troops and equipment from all three armed forces in demonstrations of how they work and operate.

Air Tattoo organisers, however, maintain that the rest of the show, on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20, is still on despite Fairford having become a base for American B-52 bombers ready for a possible war on Iraq.

The NHS has shouldered the task of caring for war casualties since 1998, when the last military hospital closed as part of military cuts imposed by the then defence secretary Malcolm Rifkind.

Included in the cuts was the former Princess Alexandra RAF Hospital in Wroughton which closed in 1994.

Hospitals are also being told to prepare for acts of terrorism in Britain, including possible biological attacks.

Earlier this month, staff at the Great Western Hospital took delivery of 12 chemical protection suits and decontamination units and Wiltshire Ambulance Service has also taken delivery of 100 protection suits.