St Helier Hospital will also lose its children's ward if it loses its A&E department under the Better Services, Better Value (BSBV) review.

It has emerged if BSBV’s plans are approved two hospitals out of St Helier, Epsom, Kingston and Croydon University will lose their maternity, A&E and inpatient paediatric care - which BSBV are now referring to as "children’s short stay units".

This could mean the loss of St Helier’s 18-bed children’s ward.

Last year BSBV recommended that St Helier, Kingston and Croydon University hospital should all lose their children’s wards in favour of a specialist overnight stay ward at St George’s.

This time round they are recommending there should be two specialist children’s wards in the region - one at St George’s and one at another hospital yet to be decided.

The proposals raise concerns about the long-term future of services at St Helier’s dedicated children’s unit, the Queen Mary’s Hospital for Children.

Carshalton and Wallington MP Tom Brake said: "As a father, both of whose children have had to go to the children's ward at St Helier Hospital, I will fight to keep it open.

"When an emergency happens, parents don't want to be driving miles, they want their child to get to a hospital promptly."

Geoff Martin, the chairman of pressure group London Health Emergency, said: "Whichever way you dress this up the reality is the main children’s services at two key sites will be ripped to shreds - with devastating consequences for the health care for some of the most vulnerable in our communities."

A spokesman for BSBV said: "The numbers of children admitted to hospital is very small and this is behind the clinicians’ recommendation that these services are provided differently in future, so that the sickest children can always be seen by the most experienced and specialist doctors.

"Community services are being improved so that fewer children need to go to hospital, but children would still be treated at all five hospitals."