FORMER health minister John Denham has thrown his weight behind the Daily Echo-backed campaign to save vital treatment received by heart patients across Hampshire.

Mr Denham is the latest figure to join the fight to save the eight-week rehabilitation classes, which help people recover from cardiac conditions.

The Southampton Itchen Labour MP said he does not want to see the programme lost, adding that the classes are now one of the issues he intends to raise when he meets with the chief executive of Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust next month.

The campaign to save the classes, which are held at leisure centres around Southampton and the Waterside, was launched

following the news that they were to be axed as part of a cost-cutting drive.

Health bosses say the move will save about £20,000 - a fraction of the £15m savings target.

Heart patients insist that axing the classes will cost the NHS more in the long run because without the proper aftercare dozens of people could end up back in hospital.

Southampton Primary Care Trust intends to take over the classes but due to a lack of communication between the hospital trust and the PCT it could be months before any kind of service is resumed. Now Mr Denham is taking up the case.

"I understand that the classes do reduce the risk for people who have got identified heart conditions," he said. "I simply don't want to see them lost from the local health service.

"I also understand that Southampton Primary Care Trust thought they had an agreement with the hospital that it would provide these classes.

"Over time a lot of services move from hospitals to PCTs. I have no objection to that if somebody else was to provide the service but I don't think it should be simply stopped without any discussion as to what should take its place."