A hospital whose A&E would have to treat tens of thousands of Epsom residents under highly controversial new proposals kept 8,000 patients waiting for more than four hours last year.

St George’s Hospital, in Tooting, is part of the controversial Better Services Better Value (BSBV) review of acute services across South West London, along with Epsom, St Helier, Croydon and Kingston hospitals. 

BSBV has recommended that Epsom and St Helier should lose their A&E, children’s and maternity departments - changes which would  result in hordes of local patients being required to use these services at St George’s instead, services already under intense  pressure. 

Figures released by think tank The King’s Fund last week showed that hospitals across the country are missing an official target to see 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

Although St George’s - which saw 147,234 patients in its A&E in 2012 - just hit the target last year, 8,000 patients had to wait more than four hours for treatment.

And last month, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) warned St George’s that it must make urgent improvements, following an unannounced inspection which found that it is not meeting six out of eight national standards.

By contrast, both Epsom and St Helier, also under considerable pressure, managed to deal with 96.9 per cent of its A&E patients within four hours last year.

The trust treated 143,511 people in their A&E departments in 2012 - 393 a day - with 54,684 treated at Epsom Hospital.

Epsom and St Helier hospitals also met all its CQC standards in their most recent inspections.

Sadiq Khan, MP for Tooting, said: "The closure of neighbouring services will have a huge impact on St George’s and the hospital’s ability to treat patients are a big concerns.

"The possibility of more pressure being forced upon existing services is a worrying prospect for me."

A spokesman for St George’s said: "If the BSBV proposals go ahead, demand for emergency and maternity services at St George’s will increase. 

"To accommodate this, extra investment in staffing and facilities would be required to expand our emergency and maternity services.

"St George’s hospital’s emergency department was recently fully modernised. 

"This has provided the department with a better patient experience and increased capacity, which will allow us to be better prepared for any future changes to healthcare services in south west London."

MP Chris Grayling said: "I just don't understand why anyone thinks it's a good idea to downgrade a hospital that's performing well and transfer services to one where there are public question marks."