VIDEO: SAVE OUR HOSPITALS: Watch Worthing Hospital campaigners in action at No 10
FROM West Sussex to Westminster – Worthing Hospital campaigners took their fight straight to the top this week and handed over thousands of signatures to the government.
MPs and protesters marched again, this time heading for Downing Street, and were pushing a hospital bed and coffin through the streets of Westminster.
The march, on Tuesday, went past some of the capital's famous landmarks, to Prime Minister Gordon Brown's front door.
The petition included signatures from 175,000 people who oppose changes to healthcare in West Sussex, which under the Primary Care Trust's proposals, could see Worthing lose its A&E and maternity services.
At least 100,000 of the signatures were from people opposed to plans to downgrade Worthing and Southlands.
The 15-strong group of campaigners along with organiser, KWASH chairman Tom Wye, went on a road trip travelling to London on a 1964 double-decker open-top Southdown bus.
The 'battle' bus, which could only travel at a top speed of 38mph, left Grand Avenue in Worthing at 9am.
It was donated for the day by its owner Chris Pearce, 60, from Worthing, who took the day off from his regular job as a Stagecoach bus inspector.
On entering London just before noon, the driver stopped at the Embankment so the bus could be decorated with banners, balloons and the Herald's 'cheapest patient is a dead patient' posters, while campaigners donned their protest t-shirts.
The group was met at London by the hospital bed and coffin, which were transported for free by Worthing company Pavilion Car Rental.
Representatives from the Support the Princess Royal campaign group also joined the KWASH campaigners.
Peter Bottomley, MP for Worthing West, joined the campaign team from his home in Smith Square and the noisy march began.
The large hospital bed with a coffin on top was wheeled past the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben, giving a clear sign to the many onlookers and passers-by that Worthing campaigners wanted their say.
Whistles, horns and chanting "save our hospitals" could be constantly heard, while tourists stopped to take photographs.
The first stop, outside the Department of Health in Whitehall, attracted lots of attention, but there was no sign of Secretary of State for Health MP Alan Johnson.
Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, said: "We've come here to the heart of government, we've asked to see the Health Secretary, yet again I'm afraid he's refused to come and see the people who own the NHS, the people who've been campaigning desperately hard to keep our full hospital services, so the government and PCT need to wake up to the strength of feeling and listen to the people."
At 2pm, six campaigners were allowed through to no. 10 – Rod Hotton, 63, of Downsway, Shoreham, Catherine Hedger, 21, of Dominion Road, Worthing, and Eileen Forster, 39, of Sackville Way, Worthing, along with Sussex MPs Peter Bottomley, Tim Loughton and Nick Gibb, walked through the gates to Gordon Brown's front door.
They delivered petition letters from more than 200 West Sussex GPs who say people will die if hospital services are downgraded.
A petition document was also given into no.10 which certified that 175,000 people from the Worthing and Haywards Heath health districts opposed downgrading of their hospital services.
The document urges the government to make the West Sussex PCT think again about downgrading plans.
Peter Bottomley arranged for the petition to be delivered to No 10.
He said: "What we want is for central government to be saying to the Primary Care Trust that Worthing, its residents, deserve its hospital and we want other parts of West Sussex to have their hospitals too.
"The suggestion the clinicians are bringing forward, saying that as well as Worthing keeping its emergency services, Chichester should as well, we hope the PCT will help to develop that and we hope Sir Graham Catto will say that is a much better option than the current three options, which would be affordable, as well as clinically sound."
For the full article including the campaginers reaction to the day see the Worthing Herald on Novemeber 1.
More pictures will appear on this website.
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Weather for Worthing
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Light showers
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
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Wind direction: West
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