Burton residents have launched a petition calling on Staffordshire politicians to take a stand against the Sustainability and Transformation Plan which could see one of the county’s three A&E department downgraded.
The petition, which is called Save Staffordshire’s NHS – Say No to the STP, has gathered nearly 2,000 signatures and will be sent out to MPs and councillors in a bid to get them to oppose the plans put forward for the future of healthcare in the county.
The plans detail proposals to ‘simplify the urgent and emergency care system’ by putting departments at Burton Queen’s Hospital, Royal Stoke and the County Hospital in Stafford under consideration to become an urgent care centre.
Campaigners including Burton’s Matt Long, say the controversial Staffordshire Sustainability and Transformation Plan poses ‘a direct threat to NHS services in the county’.
He said: “We believe it gives the green light for further cut backs and closures across the NHS. Like our MP, of course we want to see our own hospital saved and for a whole host of logistical, organisational and demographic reasons, we are fairly sure it will be.
“However, we believe that whichever hospital closes, it will have a devastating impact on our own A&E Department in Burton because of transferees needing to be shipped across the county.
“If our own A&E department is spared, we believe it is likely the people of our town will have to endure even longer waiting times in our own A&E.
Full story in the Burton Mail 12 January 2017