Politicians from all three major parties have united against a "flawed" healthcare review threatening Epsom and St Helier hospitals’ accident and emergency wards.
The group of MPs including Paul Burstow, Tom Brake, Chris Grayling, Paul Beresford and Siobhain McDonagh, are calling for the Better Services, Better Value (BSBV) review to come to an end.
Last Friday they sent a letter to the leaders of the three Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), Surrey Downs, Merton and Sutton, who will have the power to determine the fate of St Helier and Epsom hospitals from the April 1.
BSBV is proposing to cut two A&E and maternity wards in the region and sources have revealed an expert panel working on behalf of BSBV concluded St Helier and Epsom hospitals were the most suitable to lose the services.
In their letter the MPs lay out 14 flaws of BSBV - which is has been postponed to carry out more consultation.
They described BSBV as: "a flawed process, based on contested assumptions and poor data which has lost credibility and risks causing irretrievable damage to the excellent services provided by the Epsom and St Helier trust."
In April CCGs will be responsible for designing local health services and therefore any changes proposed by BSBV review must be agreed by them.
Mr Burstow said: "We have come together to present a united front because we all believe that the current plans are flawed and will do more harm than good.
"The plans and the process lack credibility. They are making unbelievable assumptions to make their sums add up.
"Worse still they have gone for a grandiose plan involving £350 million of building works rather than looking for a do minimum option that could deliver the improvements in quality they claim they want.
"On the 1st April the new GP led Clinical Commissioning Groups take over. They have it in their power to scrap the current discredited plans. A clear break with these discredited plans and flawed process would be a good start."
Click here to read the letter in full: Letter to 3 CCGs.pdf
Article from Sophie Sleigh at yourlocalguardian
