I am horrified at this week's news that the area's new critical care hospital is not to be built and the scheme is to be replaced by a smaller and cheaper hospital at Sutton aimed at providing treatment to people living at the London end of the Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust.

People living in Epsom can expect their much loved general hospital to be downgraded into a community hospital while essential services are transferred to the London boroughs.

I feel that I have been lied to, misled and finally sold down the river by officialdom more interested in retaining flourishing careers in NHS management than in providing cost effective health services.

I would like to know how many millions have been spent on Better Healthcare Closer to Home and previous schemes, all of which have come to nothing. I would like an explanation from the chief executive of the trust about why Epsom appears to have been abandoned by the NHS.

Of course there must be changes in healthcare, we all accept that, but I have been appalled at the gradual reduction of vital services in our area.

Perhaps people buying a house in Epsom should be subjected to health checks to ensure they don't put further strain on our services.

ANN PETERS Craddocks Avenue Ashtead