Councillors from Bath and North East Somerset have asked the government to investigate the closure of a highly-regarded service for people with head injuries in the city.
The neurological rehabilitation service provided at the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases has been scrapped after its income fell by 50 per cent in the past two years
B&NES council's Wellbeing Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel are concerned about the speed of the decision and the lack of consultation with patients.
They were informed of the decision at a meeting in January and a report about the impact on patients was not received until March.
Councillors believe they were not given enough time to consider the proposal and are asking Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to investigate the closure of the unit.
Panel chairman councillor Vic Pritchard (Con, Chew Valley South) said: "Despite the Government being clear that consultation must take place between health organisations and council health scrutiny panels, there has been no opportunity to meaningfully comment on the proposal.
"The Unit is a highly-respected, much-valued service and closing it at such speed has shocked many people.
"The consultation that took place did so when matters were beyond the point of no return and the impact assessment was reported just days ago.
"If the Government legislation is to have any impact on improving local involvement in decision-making, most people would expect proposals like this to be reported at a much earlier stage."
After a review, the board that runs the hospital, popularly known as The Min, decided to stop providing the service, which offers specialist assessment and rehabilitation to people aged 16 and over who have had a brain injury as a result of an accident or illness.
This decision concerned patients who use the service, councillors and charities including the United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum, which aims to improve services for people with brain injuries which they were not born with.
Vice chair of the scrutiny panel councillor Katie Hall (Lib Dem, Lyncombe) said: "We feel it is important that the Government stands strongly behind its own legislation and backs Local Authorities to do an effective job of scrutinising local health decision-making.
"Therefore we are asking the Secretary of State to investigate why the Board of the Hospital paid little more than lip-service to the consultation."
