Soldiers seriously injured in the war in Iraq are likely to be cared for by a Worthing home for disabled ex-servicemen.

Gifford House, the Queen Alexandra Hospital-Home, is putting the finishing touches to a major appeal for a new £4 million extension.

But planners have been watching the fighting unfolding in the Gulf and expect casualties to be accepted at the Boundary Road complex.

John Paxman, chief executive of Gifford House, said: "The Iraq war has currently accounted for 30 British soldiers known to have been killed. The numbers who have been seriously wounded is not, as yet, publicly known. There will sadly be many.

"The procedure that exists within the Services is that personnel who are seriously injured are sent to the Services Rehabilitation Centre at Hedley Court in Dorking, where they receive excellent physiotherapy services and re-training in the use of limbs and damaged bodies.

"However, if after a maximum of 18 months, the individual is assessed as being unable to return to their unit as fully fit, they are invariably discharged from the Services, albeit with a service disability pension.

"For those who are very severely disabled there are very few establishments, outside of very stretched and basic NHS services, for these individuals to go to.

"The Queen Alexandra, along with one other similar organisation outside London, are the two main Hospital-Homes that will and are able to accept and care for these servicemen."

Gifford House currently has 60 beds and 135 staff catering for former servicemen, who range in age from 37 to a 102-year-old veteran of the First and Second World War.

Construction of the new complex will start in late September, providing 22 new single rooms with en-suite facilities plus enhanced facilities for physiotherapy and occupational therapy.

From 2006 Gifford House will also be able to look after females for the first time in its 84-year history and also ex-servicemen with brain injuries.

Aside from war, there are approximately 100 discharges from the Army each year due to vehicle accidents and about 50 from both the RAF and the Royal Navy.

Mr Paxman said: "The current war in Iraq highlights the need to maintain establishments such as the Queen Alexandra. There are very few such hospital-homes and they are getting fewer.

"With the bulk of former National servicemen now reaching early old age, we know there will be a great demand for the services we provide for the next 15/18 years.

"The new building will cost in the region of £4 million, a huge sum for a charity to raise. The Queen Alexandra has recently taken on a full-time fund-raiser to formulate and run a focused fund-raising strategy.

"The current world economic climate is not an ideal time to set about such a task and we look to the people of Sussex and the South East to assist in raising this sum."

The appeal will be launched in the autumn.