Today, it was reported that Kingston Hospital's Accident & Emergency and Maternity units have been identified for closure, as part of a London-wide NHS review.

Since Elmbridge does not have an Accident and Emergency Unit, residents (particularly in the north and east of the borough) rely on Kingston hospital. If confirmed, it would represent a further downgrading of local NHS services - and a serious blow for Elmbridge residents. It offers further evidence of the need for a change of direction in the way the NHS is run, with too many centrally-imposed targets and not enough accountability to local communities.

Under plans - now shelved - to give Kingston hospital 'foundation trust' status, the hospital would have been run by a board including locally-elected governors. That would introduce a direct democratic element, an important safeguard for local communities against arbitrary decision-making. Governors would be directly elected from Elmbridge, as well as the other communities served by the hospital. But Kingston hospital's bid for foundation status has been put back until after the current review, so this much-needed reform lies in the long grass. That compounds lack of transparency with a democratic deficit in the way local NHS services are being run.

This government has consistently short-changed Surrey of funding for vital public services such as health, shackled doctors and nurses with arbitrary and excessive targets and shrouded critical decision-making in secrecy.