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Conservative leader David Cameron has ruled out the forced closure of A&E and maternity wards in the party's manifesto for England.It is a move likely to be popular with local campaigners, but which will dismay many health experts.
Several large-scale reorganisations of hospital services are already underway in cities such as Manchester and Birmingham.
It is not clear whether they would be stopped.
In August 2007, David Cameron promised the government a "bare knuckled fight" over the future of local hospitals.
But critics say some closures are needed.
The new chief executive of the King's Fund, Professor Chris Ham said: "It's pretty clear to most people you can't freeze existing services in their current pattern. This is not primarily financial, but about patient safety and to ensure they get a good experience, and that the NHS delivers the best possible results."
The promises
The manifesto confirms several plans already announced including scrapping top-down Government targets, such as waiting times for treatment.
The Tories have previously said they would instead move to outcomes - in essence a target that is about results not about how much the NHS done.
These have included increasing five-year survival of cancer to above EU average by 2015 - something that could only be measured with time.
This is not in the manifesto but there is no indication the party has moved away from this approach.
The Conservatives say that by making NHS staff more directly accountable for their performance, NHS administration costs can be cut by a third as "expensive layers of bureaucracy" are removed.
Elsewhere the creation of an independent NHS board is confirmed for the day-to-day running of the NHS, which will have power over how money is spent.
So is the policy of a one off £8,000 payment for residential costs.
The Tories also pledge a Cancer Drug Fund to allow doctors to prescribe new medicines which might fail to pass the cost restrictions of the rationing body the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
This would benefit patients with rare cancers, for example.
They promise to ensure every patient in England has access to a GP 8am to 8pm seven days a week.
This is something already happening or is due to soon with every area in England having a GP-led health centre is either open just those hours.
And they say it would be up to GPs to organise how they offer care out of hours - something many doctors gave up when they signed a new contract for family doctors in 2004.This article is from the BBC News website. ? British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.