LOCAL health chiefs must be stripped of their power to make crucial decisions to end their "gross abuses", a Mersey MP will tell the government today.
Southport MP John Pugh will introduce a backbench Bill that would make unelected primary care trusts (PCTs) answerable to elected local councillors.
The move follows rising anger triggered by a series of far-reaching decisions about how Merseyside health services are provided - made, Dr Pugh said, without a "democratic voice".
Health chiefs can close wards, move services to other towns and cities or shut down entire hospitals without the agreement of any elected local person, he complained.
Recent controversies include:
* The 2003 decision to shift accident and emergency services from Southport to Formby.
* The proposal - revealed last week - to move dementia services from Southport to Aintree Hospital.
* The plan to downgrade burns units at Whiston and Alder Hey hospitals and shift treatment of the most serious injuries to as far away as Wakefield.
Such disputes can only grow over the next few years, as the looming government spending squeeze piles pressure on local health services to cut
costs.
Now Dr Pugh will call for PCTs to be required to submit annual plans before 'health scrutiny committees' already in place at all district, or metropolitan, councils.
