MEMBERS of the board of the South Worcestershire Primary Care Trust were challenged to resign rather than allow the carnage of local services resulting from Government directives to save £12.8m.

The call to all non-executive members came from Councillor Judy Pearce, health spokesman for Wychavon District Council before members considered cuts caused by the top-slicing which acting chief executive Paul Bates admitted were a blunt, crude, short-term approach to stop cash going out of the door.

Mr Bates also said that even when the cuts were implemented, there was a still a £5.9 million shortfall and he had no idea where that was to come from. "The nightmare scenario would be to close all community hospitals," he said. "We are not going to do that but as we don't have a Plan B I expect to get advice on what we should do next from the Strategic Health Authority."

Having heard all the arguments over the past few weeks, Mr Bates said he was now prepared to drop his proposal for early closure of Pershore Hospital before the opening of the new one. Instead, only 10 of the 26 beds will be in use until March 31.

Bredon Ward at Evesham Community Hospital is to close temporarily but work will start immediately on redesigning the day rehabilitation unit into a 13-bed unit for fast-track rehabilitation.

There was so much opposition from all quarters to the closure of the Macmillan Unit at Evesham that Mr Bates said he was prepared to look at other ways of patient care.

After the board approved the moves, Councillor Frances Smith, chairman of the League of Friends of Evesham Community Hospital said she was gutted. "I am not happy with the Macmillan Unit situation and on Bredon Ward I question what they are going to do with patients and we have not received a guarantee that the fast-track plan will actually be accomplished."

Cllr Mrs Pearce said board resignations would send the message to Government that they were fed up with meddling and that local issues should be left to local people.

Board chairman David Barlow said nothing would be achieved by resignations. "You would get commissars coming in, appointed centrally, and who would just ride rough-shod over everything."

Earlier in the week, staff, patients and concerned Evesham residents worried about the future of the town's community hospital attended a consultation meeting in the town.

Councillor Frances Smith, chairman of the Friends of Evesham Hospital said: "I am so disappointed, nothing has happened for at least two years and now it's happening again, it's a threat every twelve months now. Staff should not have to go through this terrible upheaval every time. These proposals are putting pressure on people, pressure on the tax payer."