REDDITCH MP Rachel Maclean has vowed to hold Worcestershire Clinical Commission Groups (CCGs) to account following the decision to downgrade the town's Alexandra Hospital.

The MP said she will work closely with the CCGs after the governing bodies of the commissioning groups, which hold the purse strings of NHS care, approved controversial plans for the future of health services in the county.

The model includes moving all hospital births from the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester.

Inpatient children’s services will now also be moved from Redditch to Worcester, while outpatient and urgent services for children with minor and moderate illnesses will remain in place.

Both accident and emergency departments will remain open 24 hours a day but, due to the transfer of inpatient children’s beds, the A&E at the Alex would be for adults (over 16 years old) only.

All emergency surgery will now take place at Worcester.

Most planned orthopaedic surgery, planned breast surgery and some planned gynaecology surgery will move from Worcester to Redditch.

More ambulatory care - outpatient diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention and rehabilitation - will also move from Worcester to Redditch.

An increase in day case and short stay surgeries will transfer to Kidderminster Hospital.

And while the MP has said she was "very critical" of the consultation process, she said she is determined to make sure the few additional benefits are delivered.

Mrs Maclean said: “The Alex was the number one issue raised during the recent election campaign, and I quickly understood why people are concerned and anxious by what has been happening.

“People don't want to travel out of the area for treatment, and not everyone has a car, while parking itself can be an issue when you get to the Worcestershire Royal. Likewise, when you’re a parent and you have to leave your child in hospital overnight, you want to be close to them.

“Residents also point to new housing developments and worry this will make services stretched in future.”

In an open letter to the Redditch & Bromsgrove CCG, the MP said she could not give her full support to the proposals.

“I cannot support any proposal that removes services from Redditch in favour of having them delivered at the Worcestershire Royal against the wishes of Redditch people,” she said.

“In the consultation, 81 per cent of respondents opposed the centralisation of maternity services to Worcester. Similarly, for children’s inpatient services, 80 per cent disagreed that they should be moved to Worcester.

“I am deeply unhappy that this situation exists. I will be writing in the strongest possible terms to the CCG to register my disappointment both with the way the consultation was carried out, effectively not giving people any choice, and then ignoring the overwhelming view of the people of Redditch who favoured not transferring services to Worcester.

She added: “However, I do welcome some of the benefits that come out of this review - better and safer care, more access to specialists, fewer planned operations, better facilities and, critically, an an end to uncertainty giving the opportunity to put staff recruitment back on a positive footing.”

Mrs Maclean will also be calling on the CCGs to be clearer with the public on which services are delivered where so they know where to take sick children and their loved ones.

Additionally, she has sought and received assurances from Ministers that there will be a 24-hour A&E for adults at the Alex and 24-hour urgent care for under 16s, with an emergency response in place by ambulance to access lifesaving care in the best locality in an emergency for under 16s.

The MP has said she does not support any attempt to re-open the consultation process at this point or call for it to be overturned.

She said: “This would be a backward step in the whole process. What I want to do now is work closely with the CCG to see the consultation outcomes delivered quickly and effectively, the promised capital investment delivered, to take into account the strength of feeling of local people, and to ensure that in future, we take a different approach.”