Bosses said 75% of patients treated at Crawley A&E would still go there

From Monday, Crawley Hospital's 24-hour unit was to become a minor injuries unit during the night.

The changes would have seen patients needing emergency treatment between 2100 and 0800 taken to East Surrey Hospital, nine miles away in Redhill.

The hospital's chief executive said the change had been deferred - but would still go ahead at a later date.

Extra distance

The proposals would see patients taken to hospital by ambulance going to Redhill, while people able to take themselves to Crawley with less serious problems would still be treated there.

The move was originally planned for August but two weeks ago was brought forward to 28 June because of difficulties staffing the accident and emergency unit at Crawley.

When the changes were outlined earlier this year, a hospital spokesman said 75% of patients who would previously have been treated at Crawley would still be seen at the new minor injuries unit.

But some local residents said the extra distance patients would have to travel could cost lives, and protested against the plan.

Junior doctors also voiced their concerns in a letter to management and it was announced on Monday morning the changes, set to be introduced just hours later, had been postponed.

The chief executive of the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, Keith Cunningham, said there was no evidence to suggest moving the accident and emergency unit would put patients at risk.