WINCHESTER residents backing a petition to save Winchester’s A&E are urging people to sign, in the countdown to the consultation end.
Volunteers from the ‘Save Winchester’s A&E’ team were out on the High Street in a final push to convince locals to sign before NHS managers close the consultation on the future of Hampshire’s hospitals on Sunday, March 17.
Chantelle Cousins, 42, of Sleepers Hill, launched the campaign to keep an A&E in Winchester more than two years ago. The petition is closing in on 20,000 signatures with more than 19,700 at the time of writing.
She believes Hampshire Together needs to “revisit former sites that are now potentially available, such as Sir John Moore Barracks, Bushfield Camp, the M3 compound and the new Abbots Barton development.”
READ MORE: Petition to save Winchester's A&E surpasses 17,000 signatures
Ms Cousins said: “I’d like to thank our 35 dedicated volunteers who have given up significant amounts of time to hit the streets and build awareness of the plans.”
The NHS Hampshire Together proposals involves making Winchester’s maternity midwife rather than consultant-led and replacing the Accident and Emergency department with an Urgent Treatment Centre. Meanwhile, acute services would be available at a new hospital in Basingstoke, either on the existing site or at Junction 7 of the M3 near Dummer.
Save Winchester’s A&E volunteer Ginny Ward, 64, a former pharmacist of Main Road, Littleton, said: “It was great to hear the high level of support the current staff and services get at Winchester Hospital. So many people I spoke to were shocked to hear of the plans to downgrade our hospital and people want to keep acute services, including consultant led maternity in or near to Winchester.
“Many people told us how the A&E and hospital had been a lifesaver for them, and how they prefer coming to Winchester Hospital from Romsey, and Andover than going to Southampton or Basingstoke partly because of the travel and waiting times and they have appreciated the care they have received. Two groups of people from Basingstoke even supported us.”
SEE ALSO: Winchester residents fear loss of A&E unit will be ‘disastrous’
Fellow volunteer, Jane Vessey, said she’d spoken to lots of Winchester students. They believe the consultation doesn’t acknowledge the size of the student population and the difficulties of getting to Basingstoke.
Philip Glassborow, 73, of Bereweeke Road, is urging everyone to take part in the online survey. He said: “Many people don’t know about the consultation. A few said they’d found the questionnaire very confusing and it is hard for people who are not online to have their say”.
The 14-week-long consultation ends at midnight on Sunday, March 17. Patients, local people, and NHS staff can get involved in the consultation and have their say via an online questionnaire, by emailing hiowicb-hsi.mohhs@nhs.net, calling 0300 561 0905, or writing to Freepost HAMPSHIRE TOGETHER. For more information go to hampshiretogether.nhs.uk/.
And to view the petition go to you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/stop-the-removal-of-winchester-emergency-dept-or-build-the-new-hospital-here.
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