Epsom Hospital Campaign

The provision of hospital services is something that affects all of us: this campaign is featured on the Leatherhead AHEAD website on behalf of the local community, and no political affiliation should be inferred.

The campaign text is as follows:

" The NHS will decide the future of Epsom Hospital on June 17th. Senior NHS managers want to build a brand new hospital, costing £300 million, probably in Sutton, leaving Epsom and St Helier as much smaller local care centres.

The new hospital will cost £20 million a year more than the current cost of our local hospitals. Yet it will only do around 30% of the work currently done at Epsom and St Helier. The rest is intended to be done in the community-based local care centres. But paying the bill for a new hospital would almost certainly mean cuts in community based services, like GP services, community care and mental health.

Last summer Epsom and Ewell MP Chris Grayling and Adrian White, the former Chairman of Epsom Hospital, presented plans to the NHS which show that rebuilding Epsom Hospital is a much cheaper option, and would still give the area a modern, high quality hospital. It is vital that the NHS takes the right decision.

We need to campaign vigorously to make sure our voice is heard. A new campaign is being set up to fight for Epsom Hospital by our four local MPs, Chris Grayling, Sir Paul Beresford, Ian Taylor, and Crispin Blunt, together with county and borough councillors in Epsom and Ewell, Reigate and Banstead, Mole Valley and Elmbridge, medical, voluntary and business groups. You can help.

We are launching a petition (see link below) to put pressure on the NHS to back the Epsom option on June 17th. And if the NHS insists on taking an approach which will damage the interests of patients and residents in Surrey, we will campaign for the break up of the Epsom and St Helier Trust.

Please collect as many signatures as possible. If you need more copies, ring Councillor Brian Angus on 020 8393 1749, County Councillor Chris Frost on 01372 720430 or the Mole Valley Conservative Office on 01306 883312 - or feel free to make copies yourself.

It's also important that we all write letters to the NHS as well as signing the petition urging them to accept the Epsom option. Please write to our local NHS management team: Ms. Jackie Bell, Chairman, East Elmbridge and Mid-Surrey NHS Primary Care Trust, Cedar Court, Guildford Road, Fetcham, KT22 9RX.

There will be more campaigning activities in the next few weeks. If you want to know more, visit www.epsomhospital.com "

petition form (Word document)
petition form (Acrobat™ .pdf file, Acrobat™ Reader required)

11 May 2004