Doctors, politicians, nurses, patients, campaigners and residents have united over the past week to urge local GPs to reject proposals to downgrade Epsom Hospital.

The Surrey Downs Clinical Commissioning Group (SDCCG) board is due to meet on Friday afternoon at Epsom Downs Racecourse to announce whether they are going to reject the proposals drawn up by the Better Services, Better Value (BSBV) team which all involve the closure of Epsom's accident and emergency department and its maternity unit.

With the majority of Sutton's GPs last week voting to allow the BSBV proposals to go to public consultation, the pressure is now on Surrey GPs to say no to the current proposals of the BSBV team, forcing it to go back to the drawing board.

Campaigners have been out on the streets over the past week lobbying residents who have been putting up posters in homes and businesses opposing cuts at Epsom Hospital.

Concerns were raised further on Sunday when the Mail on Sunday revealed that death rates in emergency patients in Newark, Nottinghamshire, rose by 37 per cent following the closure of its A&E department two years ago.

A silent protest is being planned for outside the grandstand prior to Friday's meeting and hundreds are expected to turn up to hear the GPs' representatives explain their decision.

Mike Smith, chairman of the Outer SW London Branch of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), which represents 10,000 nurses and healthcare assistant members working in the BSBV catchment area, wrote an open letter to the GPs last week condemning the proposals.

He said: "From BSBV’s inception we have asked to be represented.

"However these requests have always been denied meaning that there has only been a token nurse or other non medical clinician in the largely doctor led work streams.

"Elected and representative bodies such as the RCN have been largely ignored. Where is the partnership working here as recommended by the Department of Health?

"Now that the proposals have been published we see all sorts of problems for the local health economy caused in part, by failure to engage and listen to clinicians such as ourselves, who work on the frontline in our hospitals, in the community and in the private sector where healthcare is delivered to the local population."

And on Tuesday, Epsom's main political party, the Residents' Association, also formally rejected the proposals.

Councillor Clive Woodbridge said: "We will continue to support our residents in campaigning against these ill-conceived proposals and we urge the local SDCCG to reject them when it meets on May 17 and make sure that Epsom Hospital continues to provide the same range of excellent services that it does at present, and which are so valued by residents.

"Epsom is a Surrey hospital that serves a wide catchment area across the county.

"If enacted the proposals would affect residents not just in Epsom and Ewell, but in neighbouring boroughs and districts as well.

"Consequently we believe that Epsom Hospital's future must be considered primarily within a Surrey context, rather than looking to London, with its particular issues and problems."