A KEY report on the proposed merger of the Royal Bournemouth and Poole hospital trusts has been delayed for eight weeks.

The Competition Commission announced on Monday that the report would not be published on August 26 as originally intended, as they needed more time to consider the information provided by the two hospital trusts on July 11.

A notice signed by chairman Roger Witcomb said the deadline for publication would be extended to October 21.

A spokesman for the commission said: “The extension will allow us to examine closely the benefits the parties have stated will arise from the merger – and to consider any responses we receive to these.”

The merger is the first between two NHS foundation trusts to be examined by the commission, which announced in a provisional report in July that the plans would result in reduced competition and possibly reduced quality of care.

The commission said it feared the closure of services which “overlap” between the two trusts could mean the loss of their incentive to improve care as patients would have no choice where they were treated.

Responding to the delay, Poole chief executive Chris Bown and Bournemouth & Christchurch chief executive Tony Spotswood said in a statement: “We firmly believe the proposed merger has many benefits for our patients and we hope this extension period will enable the Competition Commission to consider these benefits in detail before making its final decision.”

At the time the provisional report was published the two hospital managers said they were “bitterly disappointed that the interests of competition are being put before the interests of patients, their care, welfare and safety”.

They said they planned to maintain two viable hospitals; that they were not in competition, and that if the merger did not go ahead it would create uncertainty about the future of local healthcare service provision.