Campaigners have described a plan to merge accident and emergency cover at two hospitals

15 miles apart as "utter madness".

Health chiefs are considering closing the casualty ward at Eastbourne District General Hospital overnight and keeping A&E at The Conquest Hospital in Hastings open for 24 hours - then reversing their roles the following day.

Margaret Williams, from Friends Of The Conquest Hospital, said: "We feel these suggestions are disgraceful. Both Eastbourne and Hastings need an A&E.

"The roads between us are clogged up all day long as it is. We both have a high influx of tourists, the idea is just utter madness."

Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson said: "I don't see how it would work in terms of patient care and safety, particularly as we know the ambulance service would not be able to cope working between the two sites.

"It would be wholly unacceptable to have anything but a fully operational, 24/7 A&E department at the DGH. It seems absurd to have an alternating A&E."

The move is one of three options being considered by managers at East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust in response to the Strategic Health Authority's Fit for the Future programme, which will determine what happens to services from 2009 onwards.

Other possibilities include changing staffing arrangements at the two hospitals or moving all major surgery and A&E to only one site.

Fit for the Future suggests services should be reorganised into four types of care - "super hospitals", general hospitals with casualty facilities, general hospitals in a supporting role and health clinics.

Hastings MP Michael Foster said: "We don't want to frighten people and in my view it is very unlikely to happen. But it could happen and we can't risk being behind the times. We have to be prepared."

Former health worker Paddy Henry campaigned against the closure of trauma surgery at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, last June.

Patients in Mid Sussex with multiple injuries now have to travel to Brighton for emergency treatment.

Mr Henry said: "Hastings is not a small town and there are real needs there. To talk about sharing an A&E service with Eastbourne - having one open and then closed the next day - is just absolute nonsense.

"Anybody who would buy into that idea would surely have a very feeble mind."

Judith Clabby, the trust's director of corporate services, said: "This is only one of a number of options under discussion with clinical staff as part of our review.

"It will all have to be evaluated for clinical effectiveness, patient access and financial viability. Any suggested change will be subject to public consultation.

"If we can't maintain a safe service for patients it will not be a viable option."

The report is expected at the end of June and there will be a public consultation in September.