NHS bosses in Staffordshire are refusing to release their plans to plug a significant funding gap by rationing services, it has been claimed.

Campaign group, 38 Degrees spoke out to claim that only two NHS leaders responded to a Freedom of Information request to release details of the ‘Capped Expenditure Process’ (CEP) which will affect 13 areas across the UK, including Staffordshire. It says that NHS bosses claim releasing them is not in the 'public interest'.

The CEP was introduced to provide tighter controls on NHS spending.

However, a spokesman on behalf of the NHS organisations in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent - which cover Burton's Queen's Hospital - said the deadline to respond is not until September 6 and that it published a plan last December which set out the transformation of health and care services.

After plans for three of the 13 areas were leaked, revealing changes including the downgrading or closing of A&Es and the deliberate lengthening of waiting times for operations, 38 Degrees submitted the FOI request calling on the government, NHS leaders and these regions to release details of all 13 plans.

It said every CCG, NHS Trust, and national NHS body approached by 38 Degrees, bar two, has refused to publish their proposals – despite acknowledging that they do exist.

38 Degrees argues that releasing details for such big changes is clearly in the public interest and that 230,000 members of the public have signalled their interest by signing a national 38 Degrees petition to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to step in and reveal the plans.

Holly Maltby, a campaigner at 38 Degrees, said: "This new evidence reveals NHS bosses are being forced to rush through cuts and closures so quickly they are ignoring their own rules for involving patients.

"The health service is struggling to cope with a lack of funding, but plugging the funding gap through secret cuts isn't in the best interests of patients.

"The NHS belongs to all of us - so all of us should get a say in any changes to our local services. That’s why more than 230,000 38 Degrees members are calling for full public disclosure of plans for each of the 13 regions being forced to make deeper cuts.

"More than 3,800 members from Staffordshire are urging their MPs to help reveal the extent of the cuts to their local NHS services, and these local residents deserve to be consulted on decisions that may significantly impact their lives."

A spokesman for the NHS in Staffordshire said in response to the claims: "We published a plan last December which set out the transformation of health and care services that will be required in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in order to make them clinically and financially sustainable.

"The issues included in that plan were discussed at 10 public engagement events hosted by Healthwatch between October and December of last year.

"Further work continues to be done on the plan and any significant service change identified will be subject to formal public consultation.

"The NHS in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent is currently spending more money than it receives to provide services. This is not a sustainable position.

"Our focus is on improving the health of the population and the quality of services while reducing the total amount we spend.

"It is going to be a challenge, but it is what, collectively, we’re committed to doing for the people of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent."