Friday could signal the end of an era for hospital care in West Sussex. A liquidator will decide whether it will be possible to keep King Edward VII Hospital going.

If a rescue package cannot be drawn up, the Midhurst hospital will close in a matter of weeks.

This means thousands of NHS patients in West Sussex and parts of Surrey and Hampshire, who would normally have been treated at the hospital, will find themselves on long waiting lists for treatment.

It will also mean more than 400 staff at the hospital will lose their jobs.

Campaigners fighting to save the hospital say it has been propping up the NHS for years and closing it will have major repercussions for patients and NHS hospitals who will have to cope with the many extra patients.

Support has been flooding in since it was announced just after Christmas the hospital was going into provisional liquidation.

There has been a huge depth of feeling and staff said they had been overwhelmed with calls and letters from patients, friends and former patients wanting to help. In less than three weeks, more than 60,000 people have signed a petition to save the hospital.

MPs across the region have also thrown their support behind the campaign.

Chichester MP Andrew Tyrie has secured an adjournment debate on the future of the hospital, which is taking place at Westminster tomorrow.

Mr Tyrie has told Parliament the hospital's closure would not only be a severe loss to the people of Sussex but would be dire for patients throughout the South-East, including the Isle of Wight, where residents have mounted a strong campaign to save it.

The charity which runs King Edward VII says the refusal by the Department of Health to commit itself to sending NHS patients to use the hospital in the future led to the collapse of a deal with a US healthcare company.

Director of development Tricia Saunders said: "The support has been tremendous. Everyone is working extremely hard because we all believe this is a hospital worth fighting for.

"I don't think people who made the decision last year not to commit to the hospital realised the full enormity of what they were doing.

"If we are no longer here, all those NHS patients we deal with every year will have to be seen at their local NHS hospitals, which is going to add to pressures on waiting lists."

The hospital has debts of about £8 million and for the last three years has been struggling to cope with spiralling losses, coupled with cuts in the number of NHS patients being sent there.

Over the last ten years the hospital has treated 70,000 in-patients and day-patients, almost half of which were NHS.

It also had 180,000 outpatient appointments, with 90,000 coming from the NHS.

The hospital has comprehensive cancer facilities, including the only radiotherapy unit in West Sussex.

It also has top cardiac and orthopaedic facilities and its services are comparable with the best in the country.

Bosses at the NHS say they are concentrating on cutting waiting lists by improving access to services at their own hospitals.

This has included plans to open a new diagnostic and treatment centre at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

An intermediate care ward, for patients to build up their strength before going home, is also being opened.

A spokesman for Western Sussex Primary Care Trust, which is responsible for commissioning health services in parts of West Sussex, said: "King Edward VII's contribution as part of the network of hospital services in West Sussex is greatly valued and we are saddened by the recent news about the serious financial difficulties the hospital is facing.

"The PCT is working with the hospital to ensure patients whose care is already booked can continue to be treated there without disruption.

"The funding levels for services commissioned from King Edward VII by the NHS in West Sussex has remained much the same over the past two to three years.

"There has never been any intention to make a material reduction to this level of funding for the coming year. In fact, the PCT had recently negotiated a three-year agreement with King Edward VII for cardiac surgery.

"King Edward VII sought increased financial commitment from the NHS in Surrey and West Sussex by offering the facility to provide additional elective in-patient surgical care.

"We have to balance the advantages of faster local treatment at the King Edward VII against the smaller number of patients who can be treated within our available funds.

"The cost of care at King Edward is significantly higher than comparable care in an NHS-run hospital."

The total NHS incomes from all NHS organisations using King Edward VII ranges from £4.9 million to £6.3 million a year.

The hospital's total income has varied from £18.6 million to £16.2 million.

Mrs Saunders said: "This is more than a story about a small local hospital. This affects so many people across such a large area.

"We were extremely disappointed when the rescue deal with the US company fell through because of the Department of Health's refusal to commit more NHS services.

"We have played a key role in NHS services since it was formed more than 50 years ago.

"Our radiotherapy services treat 1,000 patients each year and we are an integral part of the South-East Cancer Network.

"The NHS needs to recognise the importance of the radiotherapy services provided by us and the impact of withdrawing them.

"We know our local MPs are doing a lot of work to see if something can be done but at the moment we will just have to wait to see what the provisional liquidator decides on Friday."