An NHS review that has put hospital accident and emergency and maternity services in SW London under threat has been delayed because of concerns about funding of Croydon health services .

Better Services Better Value (BSBV) announced the decision on the proposals had been delayed until after the summer, after NHS England raised serious concerns about its financial viability, in particular the £19.9m deficit Croydon Clinical Commissioning Group expects to post at the end of the current financial year.

Although Croydon CCG's financial position should improve, it would remain in deficit even after implementation of BSBV. The financial position has cast doubt over whether the changes to health services could be delivered.

BSBV's preferred option would see Epsom and St Helier Hospital lose their A&E and maternity services, but under the least preferred option by health bosses, Croydon University Hospital could lose its A&E and maternity services.

John Goulston, chief executive of Croydon Health Services NHS trust welcomed the delay to the review - but said the hospital would be able to cope with thousands of extra patients and improving health services in the community should the preferred BSBV options go ahead.

He said: "I think it is important we have a robust consultation document and pre-consultation business case to enable consultation to take place.

"If we need to spend a bit more time, it is no bad thing because it means the consultation document will be even more robust when it is published."

He said: "In Croydon we have some of the highest numbers of A&E attendances and following on from that admissions into hospital.

"We are working with Croydon CCG and the local authority to improve the out of hospital service for people with long term conditions and more frail or elderly in the community so they do not all end up at A&E.

"The other side of that is improving the services in the hospital. Our length of stay for patients is a bit above the national average and one of the key things we are doing to tackle this is improving our nurse staffing ration within the hospital.

"We are about to recruit an additional 50 registered nurses, which will enable us to be more proactive at helping patients to be discharged earlier."

A spokesman for BSBV said they had been asked to look again at the finances of all CCGs but the deficit of Croydon CCG was the main concern expressed by NHS England.

He added: "Croydon CCG would remain in deficit even after implementation of BSBV, though its financial position would improve. They have worked closely with NHS England to understand the opportunities available to them to make savings through efficiencies without compromising patient care."