Hospitals prepare for high numbers of wounded

British soldiers injured in the Gulf would be flown to airports around the country to ensure that no hospital was overwhelmed, the Government confirmed yesterday.

The Department of Health and the Ministry of Defence have drawn up detailed plans to treat high numbers of casualties from a war.

Injured soldiers would be flown to different airports "on rotation'' so that hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland shared the burden. Planning notices have already been sent to prepare them for a possible influx of wounded. But they have been told not to set aside wards or even beds for soldiers, who would be treated alongside civilian patients.

The Conservatives said mixing civilians and military personnel in NHS hospitals could lead to regular patients being bumped off waiting lists for vital surgery.

Chris Grayling, a Tory health spokesman, said he was surprised by the policy. "The danger is that we could have patients thrown out of hospital beds to cope with casualties from the Gulf," he said. "It could throw hospitals into chaos if they try to absorb the wounded when they are already overstretched."

In the 1991 Gulf War, a small number of hospitals were set aside for the wounded, of which there were few.

This time, casualties would be treated first in military field hospitals and "stabilised" before being flown home for specialist care. Medical staff with expertise in dealing with trauma, burns, gunshot wounds and plastic surgery are expected to be put on alert.

The use of specialists from Northern Ireland, where surgeons have more experience in dealing with gunshot wounds and bomb injuries, is believed to be "under review" although casualties are not expected to be flown there initially.

NHS sources said last night that at least 14 hospitals would be expected to take casualties, with contingency plans put in place to cope with high numbers of wounded.

John Hutton, a Health minister, confirmed that "medical reservists" would be called out from a number of NHS organisations. "The NHS bodies concerned are developing plans to deal with the loss of staff and we are working closely with the Ministry of Defence to ensure the effects of call-out are kept to a minimum," he told Liam Fox, the shadow Health Secretary, in the Commons.

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

The Department of Health has been stockpiling antibiotics to treat the plague, anthrax and tularaemia, a highly infectious bacteria, to supplement supplies in hospitals and chemists.

Antibiotics that must be administered swiftly are being stored in "pods" to allow for their rapid distribution to the site of an attack. The NHS supplies are being held at secret, guarded depots around the country with vehicles on alert to deliver in an emergency.