Kingston Hospital’s accident and emergency and maternity units could face the axe, after they were identified by Kingston’s MPs in an NHS London list of possible closures.

Edward Davey, Kingston and Surbiton MP, and Susan Kramer, Richmond Park MP, have been told by senior managers within the NHS that a review of hospitals across south-west London had concluded that only three of four hospitals should have either a maternity unit or an A&E.

The review’s findings were due to be published in December but have been delayed twice and are not now expected until after the general election, prompting the MPs to go public.

Mr Davey said: “When they first told us we were so aghast we thought they were joking.

“After my initial shock, I was extremely angry that anybody should even consider this.”

And Mrs Kramer said if Kingston Hospital lost either department it could go the way of nearby Queen Mary’s, Roehampton, and be downgraded to a community hospital.

She said: “We could see things being locked in place with local people having no opportunity to debate and to challenge.

“Obviously that’s quite convenient if you want to present people with a fait accompli.

“When a hospital doesn’t have an accident and emergency it ceases to be what we look at as a general hospital.”

The Liberal Democrat party has launched its own website but both MPs said they would work with their political rivals, including the two Conservatives who will try to unseat them at the general election, to make sure the hospital is not downgraded.

The review has been looking at St George’s, Tooting, May Day, Croydon, St Helier, Carshalton, and Kingston Hospital. In north-east London a similar review has put services at Whittington and North Middlesex Hospital under threat.

Kingston Hospital’s race to achieve semi-independent foundation trust status was scuppered last year, when NHS Kingston said it could not support the bid until the review was over.

A spokesman for Kingston Hospital NHS Trust said: “Kingston Hospital welcomes the debate on how healthcare provision is best organised in the future. Senior clinical staff have been working with NHS London on the south-west London Review for some time now.

"Kingston Hospital has provided the local community with excellent maternity and A&E provision for many years and we look forward to continuing to provide an increasingly enhanced service to our community in the future.”

NHS London is putting together a statement.

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