9,000 strong petition against Chase cuts handed in

2:43pm Monday 29th October 2007

A PETITION containing 9,000 signatures has been delivered to local health chiefs, demanding an end to plans to close Chase Farm Hospital's Accident and Emergency (A&E) unit.

Delivering the petition to the NHS Project Board based at Imperial College Hospital, local campaigner Nick de Bois hailed it as a major boost for his campaign to defend Chase Farm.

Mr de Bois said: "It's time NHS bureaucrats listened to local people and took their hands off our hospital.

"Thousands of people are united in demanding that the 24 hour A&E stays open, and that vital services, such as the children's, women's and maternity units should not close or be downgraded."

The petition has been put together by Mr de Bois over recent months, in response to Enfield Primary Care Trust's (PCT) consultation on the future of local hospitals.

The petition argues that the two options now under consultation are inadequate as they each involve major cuts to Chase Farm.

It demands that a previous option preserving and investing in current Chase Farm services - known as Option E - should be implemented instead.

Mr de Bois, Conservative candidate for Enfield North, highlighted David Cameron's recent visit to Chase farm, where the Tory leader pledged that he would stop the closure plans on day one of a Conservative Government.

Mr de Bois contrasted his support for the hospital with the actions of Enfield North MP Joan Ryan, saying, "I simply cannot understand why Joan Ryan has decided to write to the Project Board in support of these cuts.

"I know that this so-called reconfiguration is Government policy, but surely Chase Farm's future should be above party politics?

"In contrast, David Cameron has made a cast-iron guarantee - under a Conservative Government, these cuts will not happen."

The Project Board is due to make its final decision public within the next month.