Party members take to the streets over risk to community hospitals

Labour Party supporters took to the streets of Launceston and Bude on Saturday to warn people that community hospitals could be at risk of closure.

The Post has previously reported on the local Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), recently published by health and care organisations in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, in response to the NHS England Five Year Forward View and Devolution Deal for Cornwall.

According to the outline plan, a reduction in the number of hospital beds and community hospital sites in Cornwall could be on the cards.

Members of the Launceston branch of the North Cornwall Constituency Labour Party were handing out leaflets and gathering signatures for a petition in the town square on Saturday, while members of the Bude branch did the same in the town’s triangle.

It was part of Labour’s national campaign day on the NHS and social care. The petition, which was signed by members of the public in Launceston, read: “We, the undersigned, oppose all cuts to community health and community care services in Cornwall including any plan to close Launceston Community Hospital and its Minor Injury Unit.”

Full story in Cornish and Devon Post 24th January 2017