Burnley Express is sending a “Save Our Hospital” bus festooned with posters to Westminster later this month as a part of a rigorous campaign opposed to cuts at the town’s hospital.
The arrival of the bus has been arranged for 27 June, the same day, as health minister Patricia Hewitt will attend a meeting in the capital about local hospitals trusts disclosing plans to transfer key-life-saving services to Blackburn.
A & E services will be taken out relocated in Blackburn. Victoria Duffy, senior reporter at the Burnley Express said: “It is purely because of financial difficulties and the £23 million overspending by the NHS.”
Express editor Chris Daggett will make the bus journey together with local civic leaders and fifty readers of the bi-weekly Johnston Press title. He said: “The campaign has captured the support of the whole community and is simple campaigning journalism at its best. It is about a genuine fear that pounds count more than patients.”
The Express’s campaign is running in conjunction with the local MP and health unions. An appeal enclosing more than 70,000 names has been sent to Mrs Hewitt.
Earlier, the Express carried a front page with mug shots and names of the fifteen hospitals trust board members who will make the decision.
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