HEALTH chiefs have been accused of running scared after refusing to hold public meetings about controversial plans to axe three birth centres.

Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust (SUHT) has sparked fury by publishing proposals to shut the popular maternity units at Hythe, Lymington and Romsey.

Officials are planning to replace them with a single new unit at Snowdon House, Ashurst.

The trust is launching a public consultation exercise but has ruled out public meetings and is inviting residents to visit drop-in sessions instead.

Critics claim that the trust is reluctant to face the sort of hostility seen last year at public meetings about plans to axe beds at five community hospitals in Romsey and the New Forest.

New Forest Primary Care Trust later scrapped the proposals in the wake of a Daily Echo-backed campaign to save the beds.

Now campaigners have gone into battle to save the threatened birth centres and have held protest marches at Lymington and Romsey.

Joanne Lunn, secretary of the Lymington Birth Centre Support Group, said: "SUHT is legally obliged to consult the public but they're purposely steering away from public meetings.

"They feel meetings tend to get rather overheated and confrontational.

"It's a shame because it would give people more opportunity to have their say. People deserve to have their voice heard."

A SUHT spokesman said: "We are keen that everyone's voice is heard. We believe the best way of doing this, in order to give every individual an equal chance of having their say, is through drop-in sessions rather than formal public meetings.

"Four drop-in sessions have been arranged so far for members of the public to talk to NHS staff and give their views."