Hereford Hospitals Trust looks unlikely to object to a new Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire and Coventry health authority.

But it wants assurances that the excellent network of services it has developed with other areas remained untouched.

Local heart patients go to Birmingham for major heart surgery and cancer services are based on the special unit at Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.

The Government is forcing a big reduction in the number of health authorities in the country, replacing them with larger strategic authorities in each region.

It will mean the end of Herefordshire Health Authority, much of whose work has already been taken on by Herefordshire Primary Care Trust.