24-hour vigils for hospitals

CAMPAIGNERS in West Sussex held 24-hour vigils on the weekend, braving freezing overnight temperatures outside two hospitals in West Sussex which are threatened with losing services.

Around 1,000 people braved the cold weather to attend in support of the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

Throughout the vigil, people lit candles for the hospital and wrote postcards to John Wilderspin, chief executive of West Sussex Primary Care Trust and Candy Morris, Chief Executive of South East Strategic Health Authority, explaining why they want to keep vital services at the Princess Royal Hospital.

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The chief executives will be making decisions about the future of the hospital in the new year.

Just over 850 postcards were filled in during the weekend, which members of the campaign team will present to John Wilderspin at a meeting on Wednesday.

Hundreds of people also joined a vigil held at Worthing Hospital, with a 'hard core' staying through the night.

Worthing mayor, Tom Wye, who heads the KWASH campaign, said: "It was a freezing night but we never had less than 15 people present at any time of the night."

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The protest campaigns have been prompted by a major restructuring of NHS services taking place in Surrey and Sussex.

The South East Coast Strategic Health Authority (SHA) has been told to shave 100m from its annual budget.

Its Fit for the Future programme proposes the abolition or amalgamation of units such as accident and emergency and maternity services on fewer sites.

For the full story and more pictures, see the West Sussex Gazette

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