Sutton councillors will continue the battle to save St Helier Hospital next week with a special committee meeting called to grill healthcare providers.

The additional Scrutiny Committee hearing, on June 11, will be the first opportunity councillors have to formally question the people who play a key role following the proposals to strip St Helier of its A&E, maternity and children’s wards.

Leader of Sutton Council, Ruth Dombey, said: “My very first act as Leader of Sutton Council was to agree with the chairman of our new scrutiny committee, Mary Burstow, to call this special meeting of the committee.

"The response to calling this meeting shows how important St Helier Hospital is to our residents and to those who work at the hospital.

“The Better Services Better Value team members will be there to answer questions, along with doctors, hospital staff and local residents.

"This is a vital opportunity for those on the committee to ask questions of the BSBV board, who many people feel have failed to address the tricky questions residents want answering.

“This is the first stage of some important work for our new scrutiny committee and over the summer we are asking local residents to send us their questions so that we can deal with all the issues people want to raise.

“I encourage anyone who is concerned about the very real threat to our local A&E and maternity services to come to the meeting to show how strongly our community feels about protecting St Helier Hospital.”

Councillor Mary Burstow added: “St Helier Hospital provides a high-quality service of which we are justifiably proud.”