PETITION TO SAVE OUR HOSPITAL

The Hyndburn Labour campaign to save the walk-in centre at Accrington Victoria Hospital has now gained over 13,000 signatures.

East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) are looking to close the Walk-in Centre provision at Accrington Victoria Hospital at the end of March 2018.

Campaign founder, Kimberley Whitehead, said, "The service is extremely well used and we do not believe that the provision proposed will be enough to manage demand, we believe that this will put more pressure on local services providers and the already oversubscribed A&E department at Royal Blackburn Hospital and the Minor Injuries Unit at Accrington Victoria. We ask that East Lancs CCG and the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt MP to provide the funds to continue the service currently available."

Cabinet member Cllr Ken Moss said, "Conservative cuts are taking great chunks out of the Hyndburn emergency services and we aren't getting support needed from the local Tories. LCC has just awarded a £104m contract to Virgin for the Lancashire Healthy Child Programme instead of the NHS. Only a few months ago they gave Virgin the community health and urgent care services contract in West Lancashire, replacing the Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust. They're privatising the NHS right in front of us, it has to stop."

Rishton Labour Party member, Will Nuzum, has also been collecting signatures outside the Co-op on Harwood Road.

The online petition can be found here.

s://www.lep.co.uk/news/health/lancashire-county-council-award-104m-nhs-contract-to-virgin-care-1-8903287

The decision to award the contract comes only months after Virgin took over the running of community health and urgent care services in West Lancashire, replacing the Southport and Ormskirk NHS Trust.

Read more at: https://www.lep.co.uk/news/health/lancashire-county-council-award-104m-nhs-contract-to-virgin-care-1-8903287