A doomed St George's Hospital service threatened with closure could be saved after a consultant put forward a survival plan.

Michelle Fynes is the remaining consultant urogynaecologist at the department in the Tooting hospital, where services have been suspended since June after the clinical lead stepped down.

In a bid to stop services from moving permanently to Croydon University Hospital, she has proposed a nurse-led unit with a director who would only need to attend a few times a week.

November 12: Patient told to pay £50 for notes from unit threatened with closure

October 22: Unit threatened with closure as clinical lead steps down

June 10: Urogynaecology services suspended in St George's

Presenting the plan to Wandsworth council's Adult Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, November 12, Ms Fynes said: "The staff consultation was flawed.

"As a team, we recognised there needed to be a change and put forward a proposal for the reconfiguration, which accommodated a larger, nurse-led team.

"I accept we did not have a director when I put the alternative to start with, but I have looked since then and identified a senior urogynaecology specialist with an impeccable CV."

Ms Fynes has been in touch with a senior doctor at Imperial College Healthcare trust who has agreed in principle, to taking on the director role in the department, alongside his current job, which Imperial's board has also agreed to in principle.

Ms Fynes said it was best practice, even in a teaching hospital a quarter of the size of St George's to have a urogynaecology department.

She said it was a "core service" and not an accessory.

She said: "I am passionate about what I do and I want us to consider an alternative to closing.

"The nurses will work as a front line team providing the requirements as set out by The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence."

In the wake of pressure from campaign groups including Keep Our NHS public, which collected 2,000 signatures after petitioning to keep it open, the trust extended the deadline of the consultation for a further two weeks, until November 27.

The group translated the petition into 12 languages and took it into the community.

The trust was criticised by members of the adult health overview and scrutiny committee, for failing to consult widely after it was revealed they only advertised on Healthwatch Wandsworth's website for two weeks and initially ran the consultation online and in English only.

According to a spokesman, 900 letters about the consultation were sent out to patients and 64 responses had been received by November 12.

The trust has delayed making any decision until January and pledged to include a wider demographic of women in the consultation.

Emily Lloyd, in charge of hospital's women's services, said the trust had looked nationally for a replacement clinical lead in the summer, but had not identified anyone suitable. She confirmed the trust would look at the new proposal set out by Ms Fynes and would extend the scope of the current consultation.

Have you been affected by the changes? Get in touch by emailing rebecca.taylor@london.newsquest.co.uk