AN independent body set up by health chiefs is urging them to rethink plans to strip Haslemere, Cranleigh and Farnham community hospitals of beds.

The advisory panel, set up by West Surrey Health Authority to comment on its proposals to save £7 million over three years, says the plans for transferring services from south west Surrey's community hospitals to Milford Hospital, nursing homes and home-based care, need to be reviewed.

A full version of this story can be found in the Haslemere Herald of August 4.