South West Surrey MP Jeremy Hunt has lambasted proposals to merge Surrey, Sussex and Kent ambulance services. The Department of Health announced last week that the number of primary care trusts is set to be slashed nationwide. As part of this restructuring, the 24 PCTs across the three counties look set to be reduced to eight by October. Alongside this reduction, the department also announced that Surrey, Sussex and Kent ambulance services will merge to become the South East Coast Ambulance Service. "This is yet another pointless NHS reorganisation that further centralises power, taking it further away from the communities it serves," said Mr Hunt. "Right now I can contact someone responsible for the NHS in Guildford and Waverley, and although we may not agree, we have a dialogue. "After these changes I will be dealing with someone responsible for the whole of Surrey who will inevitably be even more remote. "I fear this is part of a creeping regionalisation agenda, when we should be moving the power of local health services in precisely the opposite direction, namely to give people more, rather than less, control over their locally delivered health service." Candy Morris, chief executive designate of the new South East Coast Strategic Health Authority, said last week: "The creation of a new ambulance trust and eight PCTs across the Kent, Surrey and Sussex area will enable the local NHS to better design and deliver improvements in the health and healthcare of local people. According to a statement from the PCT, such changes "will help make sure health and social care services are better shaped around the needs and wishes of patients. "Closer alignment of the NHS and social services will enable more effective joint working in tackling priorities like reducing health inequalities and improving care for those with long-term conditions," it added. The announcement comes following a 14- week local consultation, carried out between December and March. During this time hundreds of comments about proposed boundary changes were received. The government says that the restructuring will save management costs of £21 million, which will be "reinvested in local front-line services from 2008 onwards". Mr Hunt has been similarly critical of the proposed merger of Surrey and Sussex police forces, and the decision of Guildford and Waverley PCT to close Milford Hospital and 14 beds at Cranleigh Hospital.
