A woman battling a brain tumour has spoken up for a threatened accident and emergency department which has repeatedly saved her life.

The call to save the department at Epsom Hospital comes as an expert panel was last week forced to postpone making recommendations about changes to services at hospitals across south-west London.

Sharon Perks, 49, from Eastdean Avenue, Epsom, said she was admitted to Epsom Hospital last October because the tumour had grown and she had bleeding in the brain.

She was in pain which suddenly got worse.

She rang 999 and she was taken straight to the hospital's A&E department which quickly gave her the right medicine to ease the pain.

She said: "They have saved my life a few times. It would be a great loss if we lose them."

Ms Perks, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2004, said she visited Epsom Hospital about 10 times last year.

Of the staff she said: "They have been fantastic. They know what medication to give me and they have stopped the pain."

Ms Perks, a mother of two who has lived in Epsom for 13 years with her husband Gary, said she would not move out of Epsom because of the hospital.

She said: "It makes me feel safer that someone is there who can look after me.

"They will put lives at risk if they shut that down. If there is an emergency I don’t know what I will do."