We learn today that research confirms the obvious - if you concentrate Accident and Emergency centres at a few big hospitals it takes much longer for casualties to get there. This means that instead of getting their crucial first treatment at a bigger and better trauma centre, they have to receive it in a travelling ambulance, which is more dangerous.

There is another reason to be worried. Almost 6000 people died in 2005 in UK NHS hospitals where a hospital acquired infection was mentioned on their death certificate. Concentrating so much at a few large hospitals may mean sending accident victims to infection centres, where virulent strands of c dif and MRSA are proving difficult to remove. This too should be considered before the government blunders into an other round of smaller local hospital closures.

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