HOSPITAL bosses say they have no desire to hand over control of one of Worcester-shire’s three main hospitals to a provider from outside the county.

NHS services in Worcester-shire are being revamped to try to save more than £50 million in the next three years and one of the options on the table is for another provider – likely a Birmingham-based hospital trust – to take over delivery of services at Red-ditch’s Alexandra Hospital.

The other option is for the Alexandra to be downgraded and more serious emergency, women’s and children’s services to be handled by an enhanced operation at Wor-cestershire Royal.

The idea of someone else taking on the Alex, supported by members of the Save the Alex campaign group, is still in its infancy, with work to explore the possibility more fully set to take place ahead of an expected public consultation later this year.

Worcestershire Acute Hos-pitals Trust, which runs the Alex, Worcestershire Royal and Kidderminster hospitals, said this week it was fully committed to exploring the option but has no plans to let the Alex go.

Chris Fearns, the trust’s director of strategic development, told board members: “From the trust’s perspective, we would certainly want to continue providing services to the whole county.”

Concerns have been raised that losing the Alex could see the acute trust struggling to stand alone with just Worcestershire Royal and Kidderminster and that specialist services could be lost to the county. Mrs Fearns said it was impossible to determine the possible impact on the trust until the proposal had been developed more fully.

“Once we have got a clearer understanding of the site specific proposals then we can fully test the sustainability clinically and be clear about whether any services are going to be adversely affected,” she said. “Our main concern at the minute is fully understanding the emergency demand. We need to make sure that we have capacity in place to be able to meet that.

“We have had ongoing reassurances from commissioners that they want the trust to be clinically and financially sustainable and a robust provider for the future.”

Worcestershire’s new clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), three new organisations in charge of county health budgets, will have a key role in deciding the local hospitals’ futures.

Carl Ellson, chief clinical officer of South Worcester-shire CCG, said: “The consistent message from South Worcestershire is, whether it is option one or option two, we want Worcestershire Acute to remain a viable and sustainable trust for our residents. We would not be looking at any option that did not mean that was possible.”