HUNDREDS of worried patients and hospital staff flocked to a public meeting about the proposed closure of an A&E department.

Queen Mary’s Sidcup is set to lose its A&E and maternity unit in a shake-up of NHS services across outer south east London.

Health chiefs want to separate emergency surgery from planned surgery to improve patient care and save money.

The four main hospitals in the region are currently losing about £400,000 per week.

There were mixed views about the proposals among visitors to the public consultation roadshow, called A Picture of Health, at Bexleyheath United Reformed Church, on Wednesday.

Patricia Williams, 71, from Barnehurst, said Queen Mary’s had provided great care for the people of Bexley for generations.

She said: “We’re hoping that services won’t be taken out of Queen Mary’s Sidcup because it’s our local hospital. It’s something we can’t afford to lose in this area.”

Yvonne Dyer, who has worked at the hospital as a nurse for 45 years, said many elderly people would not understand the meaning of an urgent care centre at Queen Mary’s and would instead travel to A&E at the Princess Royal University Hospital, Orpington, or Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich.

She said: “If we lose A&E it’s going to have a damaging effect.”

Jessica Brittin-Wood, interim deputy chief executive of Bexley Care Trust, said concentrating experienced surgeons at fewer emergency hospitals instead of spreading them over four would save more lives.

She said: “Buildings do not save lives, it’s specialists who save lives.”

Queen Mary’s, which is the oldest of the four hospitals and the only one not tied into a long-term contract with private investors, would continue to provide planned surgery as well as diagnostics and treatment of minor injuries.

The public consultation ends on April 7.

For more information and to take part in the consultation visit www.apictureofhealth.nhs.uk or call freephone 0800 3213579.