Protesters held a candlelit vigil outside the hospital

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust has decided against moving the services to the Worcestershire Royal.

The cuts had been proposed as part of the trust's efforts to save �20m.

It said a number of clinicians had made a compelling case against the transfer and had found that it would not allow them to make any significant savings.

Chairman Michael O'Riordan said: "Their (the clinicians) concern was that such a transfer would seriously jeopardise other clinical services at the Alexandra, and could lead ultimately to the loss of the A&E department - something which was never part of our plans.

We still face a massive challenge in making the savings we need to make Michael O'Riordan, trust chairman

"They convinced us that there was an overwhelming clinical case not to transfer these services."

He admitted plans to transfer the services from the hospital had been "extremely unpopular".

Campaigners recently staged a candlelight vigil outside the hospital in protest at the cost-cutting plans, which they claim could lead to the loss of maternity and children's services.

The trust says only �12.5m in savings have been made so far and maternity, paediatric and gynaecology services are still under review.

"We still face a massive challenge in making the savings we need to make if we are to meet our legal obligation to break even," Mr O'Riordan said.