After almost a year of campaigning from local health groups and the Mole Valley Liberal Democrats, it has been announced in-patient services will not return to Leatherhead Community Hospital.

In the wake of the transfer of beds to Dorking, Epsom and Molesey in November 2014, some members of the public say they were led to believe it would be a temporary measure.

But after a summer of public consultation the CCG has done an about-face.

In a wide review of services published last week, the CCG put forward four options to be considered in the coming months, none of which involve the return of in-patient beds.

Lib Dem parliamentary spokesman for Mole Valley, Paul Kennedy, who spearheaded the campaign, has called on the CCG to overturn its decision until ‘residents have an opportunity to have their say’.

He said: "I feel there wasn’t enough public consultation over the summer and this has been pushed in through the back door.

"There may have been public meetings over the summer, but it all feels very much like they made the decision to close services permanently back in November and never seriously considered any alternative.

"One of the meetings was in Esher, which is very hard to get to for people in Leatherhead, especially the ones who don’t drive.

"They’ll be most affected by this, if they have to travel further to receive care or visit loved ones."

However Dr Jill Evans, clinical lead for the community hospital review, said: "We have sought the views of local people throughout the review and listened to their comments.

"They have genuinely helped shape the review process and at our recent governing body meeting we agreed we will now move forward to public consultation based on the options in the report."

"On assessment of all factors, these did not support a case for beds on the Leatherhead site but under all four options there would still be the same number of inpatient rehabilitation beds across the Surrey Downs area.

"The options focus on where the beds are located in future to best meet changes in the local population and future demand for services."

Conservative Tim Hall, a member of Surrey County Council’s wellbeing and health scrutiny board, accused Mr Kennedy of ‘irresponsibly politicising’ the review.

Mr Hall, who represents Leatherhead and Fetcham East, also accused the former Hammersmith and Fulham borough councillor of misleading the public as to the number of patients on the ward, saying only two per cent of patients seen at Leatherhead were in-patients at the time of closure.

"The fact is medicine has changed. Everyone has this romantic idea of the old-style cottage hospital but the reality is it’s much more effective to deliver healthcare this way."

The review can be found at surreydownsccg.nhs.uk and a series of public consultation meetings are expected to be held in November, although dates have not been set.