§ Ms. Helen Jackson (Sheffield, Hillsborough)I wish to present to the House a petition from the residents of the Chapeltown nursing home, which—[Interruption.]
Madam Deputy SpeakerOrder. The hon. Lady is attempting to present a petition on behalf of her constituents. Would those hon. Members who are leaving the Chamber please do so quietly and rapidly so that I can hear what the hon. Lady has to say?
§ Ms. JacksonI would like to present a petition from the residents in a nursing home in my constituency. It is signed not only by the residents but by their families and the staff, and is supported by 13,000 signatures of the people of Chapeltown and the surrounding area. It is proposed to close the nursing home or transfer it out of the national health service, and they are protesting vigorously at the closure of such an excellent model institution, which was opened in 1983 as a pilot project for long-term nursing care of the elderly within the NHS intcrwhich these people have paid throughout their lives.
The petition concludes:
Wherefore your petitioners pray that your honourable House do urge the right hon…Secretary of State for Health, to intervene in this proposal to close the Chapeltown Nursing Homein my consituency of Sheffield, Hillsborough.
§ To lie upon the Table.