THE news that Hampshire Ambulance Service chiefs have rejected a proposal for a merger with Surrey has been welcomed by local MP Virginia Bottomley.

While welcoming public consultation on the future of ambulance services, members at a board meeting in Alton last week felt there was insufficient information for the proposal to be considered a viable option.

The resulting upheaval, they believe, would be "detrimental to both residents and staff who are currently achieving rapid improvements in meeting targets for new standards in response times".

And it would not "be in the best interests of Hampshire people".

They are not convinced that health authorities would have sufficient funding to invest in the merger and that any savings as a result of a reconfiguration would have to be re-invested along with substantial additional investment to ensure its success.

The Alton meeting follows a similar meeting in Haslemere last month when Virginia Bottomley and Haslemere's Surrey county councillor Christine Stevens both expressed grave concerns about the amalgamation.

On Wednesday Mrs Bottomley told The Herald that in the light of the recent Haslemere and Hampshire announcement she was calling on the south east region of the NHS executive, to "face reality and bin the proposals once and for all".

"Many will congratulate the board on its decision. There is deep anger particularly in Haslemere to the proposed amalgamation.

"Local people believe this would put our ambulance service in serious jeopardy," said Mrs Bottomley

She has written to Hazel Blears, the health minister responsible for ambulance services highlighting the "real dangers in the light of the grave problems at the Royal Surrey County Hospital A & E department faces and severe congestion on out road".

Christine Stevens said that the merger "didn't seem to make sense".

"I think it is important that this strategic decision is thoroughly re-thought.

"There is a mis-match currently between the alignment of the health authority proposals between Surrey and Sussex and the proposed ambulance service for Surrey and Hampshire.

"This cannot be good for integrated working and it cannot possibly serve the people of Surrey," declared Mrs Stevens.

The news from Hampshire Ambulance Service was welcomed by the Basingstoke and North Hampshire Community Health Council's chief officer Chris Marsh-Jenks who told The Herald that, while local feeling was obviously to oppose the Hampshire/Surrey merger, it didn't mean that it would not happen."The ultimate decision will be taken by at regional level in September."