THE long-running battle to save Milford Hospital looks set to be re-ignited as South West MP Jeremy Hunt has demanded showdown talks with the area's new health chiefs. The hospital has been plagued for years by fears of closure - and also had to contend with staff shortages, bed losses and plans for 153 houses on the site. The axe finally seemed to fall on the troubled hospital in April when the Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT) announced it should be shut in two years to help rake back a £1.5 million debt. But that PCT is no more, and from October 1 Milford Hospital will fall under the remit of the newly formed Surrey PCT. Although the decision still stands, the new PCT does have the right to reverse it and save the hospital. And given the possible closure of the A and E department at Guildford's Royal Surrey, Mr Hunt has asked for crunch talks with the newly appointed duo, chairman Douglas Robertson and chief executive Chris Butler. Mr Hunt said: "The new PCT is going to be absolutely instrumental in deciding what happens to our local hospitals. "The fight for Milford is not over - given the possible closure of A and E at Royal Surrey it would be double madness to proceed. "When you are talking about money cuts to an acute care hospital you must increase funding to the local ones. You cannot have it both ways. "We have an increasing number of older people in Haslemere who need the health service more and more." Mr Hunt also attacked the way funding was given to different areas, saying that while Haslemere and Milford were not poor areas, its residents rely on health care. He said: "More money goes to areas that are classed as deprived, but Haslemere has an ageing population who need care more and more. Twenty-seven per cent of the population are pensioners and an increasing amount are over 80. "We have an NHS bursting at the seams, yet for some reason we are being told we have too many beds. When you have considerable waiting periods there should be more funding to local hospitals, not cutbacks." This possible reprieve for Milford Hospital is the latest chapter in a turbulent few years for the site. It was announced in 2000 that it had been declared unsuitable as a local care centre. Fears began to mount that it could shut, and while a decision date was postponed several times, a planning application for 153 homes on the 40-acre site - should the hospital close - did little to allay local residents' worries. Plans to shift the beds from Milford to The Royal Surrey and Haslemere hospitals emerged in 2001, a move that would have freed up £284,000 of the PCT's budget. Despite the cloud hanging over the hospital, residents joined forces to fight the closure. Five thousand signed a petition to keep the hospital, while former health minister Virginia Bottomley joined the crusade by accusing Labour politicians of "ducking the issue" when quizzed on the site's future. The final curtain seemed to close in April following the old PCT's decision, but the new regime could still choose to save Milford Hospital.
