A petition to save a community hospital has received unanimous backing from councillors.
More than 23,000 people signed their support to the campaign to safeguard the future of Leek Moorlands Hospital.
Now members of Staffordshire County Council have pledged their support for the facility.
It comes as a 45-day consultation on the future of 95 NHS workers at the hospital – including nurses, support workers, admin, cleaners and cooks – continues.
Founder of the Save Leek Hospital action group Pam Wood, who addressed today’s meeting of the full council, said: “We hope to stop the CCG’s plans to downgrade healthcare. I want to suggest that the CCG is no longer fit for purpose.
“About five years ago the CCG told Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership Trust to spend £1.2m on building a completely new minor injuries unit at Moorlands Hospital.
“They failed to staff it in a safe way and subsequently moved it back into its old corridor, leaving a costly building to house a few clinic sessions.
“I ask you to consider what is happening to healthcare in the north of the county and help what is a very special area at a very special time.”
Article from The Stoke Sentinel, 20 July 2017