§ Miss Julie Kirkbride (Bromsgrove)This petition is from the residents of Bromsgrove, who are facing intolerable cuts in their local health service. We have two hospitals that serve the constituency, although neither is situated in the constituency. Both are facing cuts in their accident and emergency departments and one is facing cuts in elective surgery.
I am particularly grateful to my local newspaper, the Bromsgrove Messenger, which collected 3,500 signatures on a petition that I can present to Parliament. It organized people to write in and protest about what is happening to our local health service.
The petition, addressed to the House of Commons, says:
The petition of residents of the Bromsgrove area declares that the services provided by the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and the Kidderminster General Hospital are vital to the people of north Worcestershire.They wish to remind Parliament of the promises made on 1 May 1997, when the Labour Government pledged that they would seek to improve our National Health Service.They believe that the present proposals to close the accident and emergency departments at the Alexandra Hospital and Kidderminster General Hospital, along with all the elective surgery at the Kidderminster General Hospital, are utterly unacceptable to the people of Bromsgrove who rely on those services.They further believe that the funding and management of the health service is one for Ministers and the Government of the day and cannot be blamed on local administrators.The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urge the Secretary of State for Health to use his authority over the Worcestershire Area Health Authority to stop the closure of these departments.It is signed by Dr. Elizabeth Shaw JP, Park Hall, Bromsgrove.
§ To lie upon the Table.