GENERAL union GMB demanded yesterday that “outrageous” plans to shut a London hospital be scrapped, accusing the Tories of playing “Russian roulette with people’s lives.”

The union is angry at plans by NHS bosses to launch a consultation exercise in the new year that could lead to a hospital closing as NHS bosses try to balance the books.

One of five hospitals — Kingston, Croydon, St George’s, Epsom or St Heliers — is threatened with the axe, according to the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for south-west London.