Fight to save the Alex Hospital taken to Whitehall (From Redditch Advertiser)

Fight to save the Alex Hospital taken to Whitehall

11:40am Wednesday 26th September 2012 in Local

THE fight to save the Alexandra Hopsital is being taken to Whitehall.

Redditch MP Karen Lumley has announced that she has secured a meeting with MP Dan Poulter, the Minister in charge of the health review to discuss the recent shake-up to services.

The meeting, which will include local councillors, Bromsgrove’s MP and members from the Save the Alex Campaign, will take place in November.

Mrs Lumley said: "I am pleased we can now take this campaign to Westminster and continue to come together to show our support for retaining services at the Alexandra Hospital.

“I believe this is a very good opportunity to express the concerns and views of the people of Redditch and other affected areas to the proposed options as outlined in the Joint Services Review.”

Calls are also being made for council bosses to press the Government into plugging the shortfall of up to £200 million in Worcestershire’s health service.

County councillors say threats to shut the A&E department at the Alex Hospital would pile too much pressure on Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

And now they’ve asked bosses to write to Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt asking for a better funding deal.

Councillor Peter McDonald, leader of the county’s Labour group, said: “The Government said it would cut the national debt, not the NHS, but these cuts do just that.

“Patient care needs to be protected, not fragmented. All councillors know money and quality of care is linked.”

County councillor Richard Udall said: “The A&E at Worcestershire Royal was built for a city, not a county. Adding a whole new level of demand by closing the A&E at Redditch would leave it struggling to cope.”

The motion says that Worcestershire County Council backs the campaign to keep A&E and maternity services at the Alex Hospital open.

It also says Worcestershire’s NHS funding shortfall works out at “approximately £1 million a week”, at £200 million over the next four years, and calls upon the Government to plug the gap.

NHS chiefs in the county are struggling to cope with ever-increasing demands on services from a population which is growing older.

The cost of drugs are also rising and the budget is not increasing in line with inflation.