Bosses at St George's Hospital are remaining tight-lipped over rumours it wants to merge with St Helier Hospital in Sutton.

Epsom and St Helier hospitals which have a huge budget defecit are expected to demerge as they attempt to achieve foundation trust status before March, 2014 - paving the way for each to merge with another hospital.

St George's Hospital, in Tooting, which faces its own financial crisis and has also not achieved foundation status, and Kingston Hospital are understood to be frontrunners to merge with St Helier.

Unison regional officer Michael Walker said: "What I'm concerned about is the potential number of services and beds that could be lost at St Helier as a result of a merger.

"However, we do recognise that a merger with either Kingston or St George's is viable to the long term future of St Helier."

St George's is looking to save £55m this year in response to the Government’s £20bn NHS cuts programme.

Mr Walker raised no fears about the hospital being overwhelmed, despite the union claiming it could lose wards, beds and cap the number of births it handles as part of the cost-cutting campaign.

A spokeswoman for St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust said: “We cannot comment on whether or not we have expressed an interest in partnering St Helier Hospital.

“However, were we to submit a bid to form a possible partnership, we would be required to run all the services St Helier currently provides.

“If an organisation was successful in its bid to form a partnership and then wanted to change services in the future, any such proposals would be subject to appropriate legal consultation.”

A list of NHS organisations interested in merging with St Helier is expected to be published next month.

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