A recommendation to remove a successful orthopaedic care centre from Epsom Hospital by the Better Services Better Value (BSBV) team during the hospital's merger talks with Ashford and St Peter’s has been slammed as "the best way of scuppering" the merger.

Surrey County Council’s health scrutiny committee met last Thursday, January 24, to review the failed merger of Epsom and Ashford and St Peter’s hospitals.

It urged Epsom and Ashford and St Peter’s hospitals to re-start talks on "joint arrangements seeking improvements in care and organised efficiencies either through management steering or eventual merger" and said it was concerned that boundary issues may have affected the merger, calling for a "wider and more independent review of acute provision in the sub region".

The meeting was attended by Epsom and St Helier chief executive Matthew Hopkins, representatives from the BSBV team, Ashford and St Peter’s and the transaction board overseeing the merger process.

Janet Sawkins, chair of the transaction board, said a reduction in the synergies which could be achieved between the hospitals, an increase in costs, uncertainty with regards to commissioning intentions and the potential impact of the BSBV review were reasons why the merger was halted.

But, a recommendation made by the BSBV team last summer to remove the Elective Orthopaedic Centre (EOC) - a flaghip and highly lucrative service based at Epsom, but shared in partnership with Kingston, Croydon and St George’s hospitals - to St Helier, was criticised as damning for the hospital’s talks with Ashford and St Peter’s.

Bob Peet, director of social projects at Ashford and St Peter’s, said: "The EOC is a main part of the Epsom Hospital site.

"It became clear that that activity should be moved and this was a change which had an impact on Ashford and St Peter’s and one of the reasons why the merger was not able to proceed."

Committee chair Councillor Nick Skellett said: "Ashford and St Peter’s assumed the EOC would stay at Epsom and it is understood they hoped to get business from the rest of Surrey.

"But one of the first decisions BSBV takes is to wind down all the business from the EOC.

"If the EOC is not at Epsom it seems to me the best way of scuppering the merger.

"BSBV harmed that process quite considerably. The site at Epsom could have grown and continued with the pattern of people in South West London using the EOC."

Mr Peet said the decision to move the EOC was a "contributory factor" to the merger failing.

Rachel Tyndall, a BSBV representative, said the EOC issue was one of a number of factors which led to the collapse of the merger.

She said: "In combination, the reasons created too much difficulty and uncertainty to enable the transaction to go ahead."

Just weeks after the collapse of the merger talks in October, a partnership board made up of all the hospitals involved in the EOC recommended that the centre should stay at Epsom but Kingston Hospital should run it.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor Colin Taylor said the recommendation to remove the EOC adds to concerns that Epsom will be the hospital earmarked to lose it acute services as part of the BSBV review.

The committee said it was "disappointed" at the merger’s failure - which Ms Sawkins confirmed had cost the public £2.7million.