Overhaul of A&E services blocked by councillors

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Bosses want to downgrade two major hospitals and merge A&E and maternity services in moves that will reduce the number of acute hospitals in Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham from four to three.

But seven councils were today writing to Health Secretary Alan Johnson to demand a second opinion amid fears the scheme will damage patient care.

Under the reforms Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, will be stripped of its emergency and maternity services and become a borough hospital.

University Hospital Lewisham will also offer emergency surgery for just 12 hours a day, while Princess Royal in Bromley and Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich will also be specialist emergency centres with maternity and in-patient childrens' services.

Campaigners say the overhaul is driven by cash cuts as the local NHS is overspending by £400,000 a week. Health bosses decided to go ahead with the plan this summer but were stopped today by a council scrutiny committee - involving elected officials from Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich, Lewisham, Southwark, Lambeth and Kent - who referred the plan to the Department of Health. The overhaul will now be reviewed by an independent reconfiguration panel who can call for a rethink.

Managers said today's decision to refer the plan would cause dangerous delays. The move is a blow to Labour's plan to create "super A&E" departments and establish larger units for maternity and children's services.