AN MP is the latest to raise concerns about the scale of proposed cuts in community health services.

Bexleyheath and Crayford MP David Evennett has written to Bexley Care Trust after hearing from a number of people about the effects its financial recovery plan could have on health care.

The trust has been consulting on its proposals to axe or scale back a number of services because of its £8m debts.

Consultations ended on August 18 and the trust is expected to finalise its decisions by September 15.

Among the proposed cutbacks are: transferring responsibility for adult family planning to GPs; axing out-of-hours family planning clinics; withdrawing from personal health and social education classes in schools; transferring cervical screening to GPs; axing speech and language therapy in schools; cutting back podiatry services; reducing district nursing from a 23-hour service to daytime only and axing a Parkinson's Disease nursing service.

The Parkinson's Disease Society is already threatening legal action over the cut in its nursing service, saying the trust is breaking an agreement to fund the nurse.

Mr Evennett says he fears GPs will not be able to provide the same level of family planning services as the trust and the transfer of responsibility will not be in the public's best interest.

He also has concerns about the proposed withdrawal of speech and language therapy from two schools for children with severe learning difficulties.

Mr Evennett added: "This could seriously affect those students requiring communications aids, assessment programmes and feeding programmes."

The MP has written to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt about problems facing the trust and the two hospitals which service Bexley - Queen Mary's, Sidcup, and the Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich - which are also making cuts in services due to severe debts.

A trust spokesman said: "We are grateful for all the feedback and comments received on the plans and will be carefully considering these over the next few weeks."