One of south west London's four accident and emergency departments (A&E) faces closure, after an NHS review recommended the number of A&Es in the region is reduced.

The future of the emergency care at St Helier, St George's, Kingston, and Croydon University hospitals is now in doubt, after NHS SW London today published its Better Services Better Value review into the future of local health services.

Doctors, nurses and other health professionals leading the review are recommending three emergency departments in south west London rather than the current four, each with an integrated urgent care centre.

A fourth stand-alone urgent care centre which could treat up to 70 per cent of patients currently seen at A&E, is also proposed.

The review has also recommended three obstetric (maternity) units in south west London rather than the current four, though clinicians do not rule out the possibility of a stand-alone midwife-led unit.

The three units would be co-located with emergency departments.

A state-of-the-art planned care centre for elective surgery, kept separate from emergency care, is also recommended so that emergencies do not disrupt planned operations.

The review also recommends increasing services in the community with more services delivered in GP surgeries, community settings and people’s homes, including support for people with long term conditions.

Dr David Finch, local GP and Joint Medical Director for Better Services Better Value, said: "These are clinical recommendations only. No decisions have been made and our recommendations will be subject to full public consultation.

"Our recommendations should mean that everyone in south west London can be sure that they will receive the highest quality of care when they need it most, even at the weekends. I know that in a life-threatening situation I would want my family to travel that little bit further by ambulance to be treated by the best possible, specialist doctors and nurses for their condition.

"I think everyone in south west London deserves the highest quality of care and I believe these recommendations could greatly improve the local NHS and save lives.

"By centralising the most specialist services, we know we can improve their quality and safety. A doctor performing a certain operation five times a week is going to be more prepared than a doctor who performs it just five times a year. "By centralising maternity services we can help ensure every mother has one to one midwife care and a senior doctor on hand in case of emergencies. By centralising highly trained and specialist doctors and nurses we can treat more patients in bigger units and separate planned care from emergencies, making sure safety and quality is the best it can be for everyone.

"Proposals for changing services will be subject to full formal consultation and local GPs, hospital doctors and nurses involved in the review will be talking to local people about how these changes could transform the quality of the NHS locally. If any of the proposals then go ahead, they would be implemented over the next five years."