NHS bosses have been sent back to the drawing board over plans to make £2.5 million staff cuts in Bucks.

The county's Overview and Scrutiny Committee for Public Health has raised serious concerns over the cuts, which includes the removal of around 50 district and community nurses.

The nurses' duties include visiting the sick at home, many too ill to get out of bed.

A staff consultation on the redundancies has just finished but the committee has demanded a public consultation on the matter amid claims of a lack of openness.

Chairman, Cllr Mike Appleyard, said bosses also had to work closer with the agencies that might suffer a knock-on effect from proposed redundancies.

He told Midweek: "Social workers are concerned that some of the jobs being done by the district nurses would be required of them.

"GPs identified the problem that if community nurses went there would be more pressure on GP practices. The nurses do a lot of preventative work - if they were not there things would be more serious."

The cuts have been drawn up by three primary care trusts which are set to become one from next month; Wycombe, Chiltern South Bucks and Vale of Aylesbury.

Cllr Appleyard said the committee had received a large response from doctors angry over the possible impact of the changes. He said the proposed loss of community hospital beds, including at Marlow and Gerrards Cross, could contribute to a bed block in regular hospitals. With less nurses and less community beds, it is believed that patients would have to stay longer at hospitals like Wycombe.

Around seven nurses would be made redundant in the Wycombe area, which includes Bourne End and Marlow.

Cllr Appleyard said: "We said you have got to work with partners and find better solutions - only when you have done that would it be worthwhile consulting."

Cllr Appleyard said the chief executive of the new Bucking-hamshire Primary Care Trust, Janet Fitzgerald, had agreed to meet the committee.

Meanwhile, Union leaders have slammed the plans. Patricia Marquis, Royal College of Nursing manager for the Thames Valley, said: "We are concerned about the loss of jobs and the impact on primary care. You cannot cut 50 posts and expect things to continue as they are."

Richard Burton, spokesman for Aylesbury Vale PCT, said: "We thought it better to get staff views and comments first before going to a wider audience. We are increasing having dialogue with partners and if we do go down the path with these changes it will go to public consultation."