A campaign has been launched to oppose plans to merge two hospitals and close another.

Parliamentary candidate Chris Berry is furious at plans outlined by Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust for the future of local services.

The trust has appointed a panel to look at the possible merger of services with the Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

If approved, the scheme would see some services and specialist care shared by the two hospitals, though it would not lead to the closure of wards.

The trust has also revealed that All Saints Hospital in Grand Parade is to close because the ageing Victorian building can no longer provide modern medical care.

Mr Berry, Eastbourne's Liberal Democrat parliamentary hopeful, reacted angrily to the plans.

He said: "This has all the marks of a classic money-saving exercise. Why even consider closing a hospital until we know just what alternative provision is going to be made?

"Until we can be sure that new beds exist elsewhere, the NHS Trust should not even be thinking of closing the existing hospital, however old it is.

"And the present debt at the DGH does not fill me with much confidence that the problems at our main local hospital are over yet.

"I do not believe that concentrating medical services into fewer and fewer larger hospitals is the answer."

Mr Berry wants local people to tell him what they think. He is launching a campaign for more local health care facilities in the town.

But a spokesman for the hospital trust said: "It has been clear for some time that All Saints would have to close as its facilities are outdated and do not conform to modern standards.

"The timetable for closure allows adequate time to plan the reprovision of services in a more modern setting and in a way that meets the needs of patients and their relatives."

The spokesman said the closure would only happen after consultation with staff, the public and the health authority.

He said: "We can assure Mr Berry and the local population that the closure of All Saints and closer collaboration with the Conquest Hospital will result in improvements in local health care and provide people with even better hospital facilities than they have now."