Nicholas Soames and Nick Herbert this afternoon attended a rally of the All Party Local Hospital Group at Westminster at which the following message was delivered to the Secretary of State for Health;

The campaign representatives from 18 counties came to London to express their support and need for local hospital services and requested the Secretary of State to listen and act upon their concerns.

“Loss of services for common conditions from acute district hospitals can never be seen as an advantage by local people even though they are well aware of the need to travel for complex or highly specialised treatment.

Please review all proposed acute hospital mergers and reconfigurations with the aim of maintaining local hospital services for common conditions that need emergency or inpatient care. The case for drastic downgrading is not supported by research or experience. Much work has to be done to find workable solutions to the problems affecting local health communities that are acceptable to patients and NHS staff.”