SOUTHEND Hospital will struggle to cope with the needs of patients under a radical shake-up of healthcare services, a councillor fears.

Anne Jones, Labour councillor for Westborough ward, has spoken out as the Council’s People Scrutiny Committee is due to meet on Thursday to discuss plans from the Mid and South Essex Success Regime.

Options to merge services at Southend, Basildon and Broomfield, in Chelmsford, have been narrowed down from five to two options. Both of these options propose having a specialist emergency centre based at Basildon Hospital.

Southend and Broomfield could be downgraded to offer 24-hour walk-in care but the most seriously ill patients will go to Basildon - prompting concerns over long journeys.

Anne Jones, who was responsible for children and learning under the previous administration, said: “I don’t think any of the options are particularly good. Our public health budget is being slashed and this is purely a financial decision, it is not a clinical one.

“I don’t think the options reflect what was put forward by residents in the surveys and the activity groups.

“People want our hospital to stay open and one of the worst options is where we basically are a first aid post at a sports day. With the lack of GP services, that is people’s primary care now.

“I am also very concerned about emergencies including strokes and heart attacks. We have an older population than other areas.

“I had a high risk pregnancy and spent months in hospital after I had my baby, and I had young children. This is an issue if your hospital is far away.”

John Lamb, Tory leader of Southend Council said: “It is right that we have the expertise and experience for the cancer ward and Broomfield does for the burns unit, but I have some serious concerns if Southend Hospital’s A&E department was downgraded.

“We have an airport, football ground, six million visitors to the town every year – if there was a serious incident I would have a big concern for them getting to Basildon Hospital by road in time, or if they had heart problems.”

Under the NHS overhaul, Basildon Hospital will keep the Essex Cardiothoracic Centre and will have a specialist obstetric centre. Southend would remain a specialist cancer centre and offer elective surgery, while Broomfield will continue to have a plastic surgery and burns unit.

The committee will meet at the Civic Centre, in Victoria Avenue, Southend, at 6pm on Thursday.