AN SOS has gone out to save a "vital" service at Kidderminster Hospital.

More than 500 people have signed a petition to "Save Our Switchboard" after plans have been unveiled to move the service to the Alexandra Hospital, Redditch.

Switchboard staff claim patients and relatives will suffer as a result of the move but this is denied by hospital chiefs.

Operator Ann Carson said staff at Redditch will not have the local knowledge to help people with queries.

She added they would not be able to cope with an additional 80,000 calls a month, which currently come to Kidderminster.

And she claimed countless callers were already frustrated at trying to get through at the Worcestershire Royal Hospital and Redditch.

Mrs Carson, one of eight switchboard staff providing a 24-hour service, said: "We are absolutely devastated at the news but we will fight it all the way.

"We are a very experienced team - most of us have been here for more than 10 years.

"Staff at Redditch are going to have to cope with another 80,000 calls a month - it is going to be horrendous."

She added: "We just feel people in Wyre Forest are going to lose out on another vital service.

"If a cardiac arrest happens in Kidderminster and Redditch at the same time, whose call is going to be dealt with first?"

Wyre Forest MP Dr Richard Taylor was aghast at the news.

He said: "In my opinion it would be an act of vindictive vandalism to transfer this to Redditch at the very moment services are being developed.

"As patients from other parts of the West Midlands are going to be treated here, switchboard operators with local knowledge will be crucial."

However, Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust stressed it had the staffing and equipment to ensure calls were dealt with promptly and transferred efficiently.

It is currently in talks with staff representatives to clarify which staff at Kidderminster would want to transfer to Redditch.

Communications chief Richard Haynes said: "Callers will still dial the Kidderminster number they are familiar with and they will still be greeted with 'hello, Kidderminster Hospital', so as far as they are concerned, the transfer should be seamless.

"The money saved as a result of these changes will be reinvested in patient services - benefiting the people of Wyre Forest as well as those in the rest of Worcestershire."

The trust could not clarify how much money will be saved until talks are completed.