Sussex's ten primary care trusts will be merged into four larger trusts in a reorganisation of health care in the county.

From October 1, the county's health services will be delivered by Brighton and Hove city teaching trust, Hastings and Rother trust, East Sussex Downs and Weald trust, and West Sussex teaching trust.

The Government said reducing England's 303 primary care trusts to 152 - more closely aligned with local authority boundaries - would make annual savings of £250 million that would be reinvested in front line services.

But the Conservatives have branded the moves "change for change's sake" and warned ministers about the effect on staff morale.

In coming to its decision the Government rejected a recommendation by Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority to bring all of East Sussex's health services under one trust.

That was welcomed by Michael Foster, Labour MP for Hastings and Rye, who had been campaigning for two trusts in East Sussex. He said: "Poor areas like Hastings and Rother do badly when joined with rich areas."

But Nick Herbert, Conservative MP for Arundel and South Downs, said the latest reforms were part of an "endless process of reorganisation" in the NHS, which was "incredibly timeconsuming and expensive".

He said: "People are wondering when the Government will stop moving the deckchairs around and start addressing the serious problems in our health economy with multimillion pound deficits, jobs being lost and wards being closed."

The restructuring was announced yesterday along with the merger of Sussex's ambulance trust with those of Kent and Surrey.

The enlarged group, due to start work on July 1, will be known as the South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust.

The merger has been supported by all three trusts.

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