I THANK the 5,400 people in both Stroud and Cirencester who signed our joint petition to ask Gloucestershire Care Services to keep our minor injuries and illness units open overnight and to all the people from the Lib Dems, Greens and Stroud Against The Cuts who campaigned.

Sadly, it appears that the Gloucestershire Care Services consultation was nothing but a charade and arguably the decision to change the hours from 8am to 11pm had already been made.

It is disgraceful that people who should work for the public’s best interests at heart can treat local people who pay for the NHS with such disdain and ignore so many.

I also extend this argument to the nurses at Stroud MIIU who have also been ignored and I ask them to work with us and local campaigners before they lose their hospital.

However, I am greatly enthused to once again see that Stroud can work cross party to fight for the community and I hope all of you who signed the petition or got involved will not go away quietly.

ln light of the announcement that Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust has a deficit ‘they missed’ of £11.1 million, inevitably we now will have a bigger fight on our hands to save both our local hospital in Stroud and the NHS.

I will be in touch with you all very soon about how we can continue with a wider, longer term campaign in Stroud.

Debbie Hicks

Vice chairman of Stroud Constituency Labour Party