Mr. Gresham CookeI have to present to the House a public Petition against the closure of Bearsted Memorial Maternity Hospital near Hampton Court in my constituency. The Petition was started in November, shortly after the proposed closure was announced, and it was com- 182 pleted in December. It carries 7,888 signatures.
The Petition sheweth,
Whereas it has been announced that the Bearsted Memorial Hospital being a maternity hospital in Hampton serving the residents of the constituency of Twickenham including Teddington and Hampton, and the constituencies of Esher, Spelthorne, Kingston upon Thames, Feltham, Richmond and Barnes, and Heston and Isleworth, surrounding the hospital, is to be closed, that such action will cause great inconvenience to the public it serves and to the staff of the hospital, requiring patients to go many miles at considerable expense for treatment which is their right under the National Health Service.Wherefore your Petitioners pray that the Bearsted Memorial Hospital continue as a hospital dealing with maternity cases under the National Health Service.And your Petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc.To lie upon the Table.