THE threatened closure of the Alexandra Hospital's A&E and maternity departments is a disastrous proposal by the Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and the alternative facing council taxpayers, children and others to be transferred for treatment to Worcestershire Royal Hospital is unthinkable.

It is not just the people of Redditch who will suffer from this ridiculous ''proposal'' but those from such areas as Wythall and Hollywood.

There is no public transport on Sundays or Bank Holidays, for instance, and a round trip to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital is about 50 miles. It takes at least three hours on a good day to travel there and the same back - I know because I have had to experience the misery.

We, the beneficiaries of the Alex, are told by trust spokesman Richard Haynes: "The important thing to stress is that these aren't final proposals."

Ha, ha! Tell that to the council taxpayers of Wyre Forest who not long ago suffered the downgrading of Kidderminster District Hospital.

Wyre Forest's independent MP Richard Taylor, a retired doctor, has already publicly stated that "...the people of Redditch stood to lose as much as Kidderminster did after services were downgraded."

Once again the fight to balance the books of a £20 million deficit is placed before the health and safety of the patients in the area and, of course, their relatives and friends who want to visit them and by doing so help their recovery.

And what of the staff ? Are we to witness a plummeting of morale and the obvious exodus to more secure employment?

We have been given until some time in November to organise opposition to these dangerous ''proposals'' - what sort of notice is that?

Doesn't it smack of a panic to avert ''unseemly'' demonstrations and media coverage.

I urge all those likely to be affected to use every possible means at their disposal to fight a scheme which, if implemented, will create untold havoc and despair to all concerned and above all, don't be fooled by the word "proposals".

Tony Miller

Shawhurst Lane

Hollywood