WIRRAL'S health chief has tried to calm fears after reports the borough's two main hospitals are facing the axe.

Another leaked email to the Liverpool Echo today suggested top-level talks have been held in which Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge hospitals are to be closed along with the Countess of Chester.

A single mega-hospital in Ellesmere Port would then be built replacing the three.

Last week a leaked email to the paper suggested four Liverpool hospitals could face the same fate.

Discussions among NHS executives across England are being held after an investigation found there could be a "glut" of hospital services shut down as providers face a £23 billion national funding deficit.

Each area of the country is considering options to slash the deficit in a working document known as a Sustainability and Transformation Plan or "STP."

The inquiry found Cheshire and Merseyside could be facing a massive £958m black hole in its health budgets by 2020.

But Wirral Hospital NHS Foundation Trust chief executive David Allison said today: “There are no current plans to close Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge Hospitals.

“All ideas no matter how radical they appear will have to be considered in the longer term in order for the NHS to have a sustainable future - but it is important to rule out extreme suggestions such as the building of a new hospital at an early stage.

“Once in a lifetime ideas may be discussed in meetings but then not included in the wider Cheshire and Merseyside Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) document which will be submitted later in October.

“When released, the Cheshire and Merseyside STP will take a strategic view across the region.

"The intention is to have a set of clinical standards to ensure consistent quality services across the area, improve health outcomes and to reduce unwarranted variation."

Mr Allison continued: “There will be an increased need for health providers to work more closely together than they have ever done before.

“Our dedicated workforce, local leaders and the public will have the opportunity to give their own views on any future plans so we can improve the overall quality of the services we provide locally.”

Alarm bells sounded in August an inquiry commissioned by campaign group 38 Degrees uncovered 44 "Sustainability and Transformation Plans" being drawn up across England to meet significant cuts.

The plan for Cheshire and Merseyside says that to meet their financial challenge hospitals in the region will need to be "reconfigured" and "consolidated" with "less sites."

There are no specific details included - but it says a "do-nothing" option would create a budget deficit of £958m by 2020/21.

38 Degrees says that historically in the NHS "reconfiguration and consolidation" have simply meant cuts.