Liz joins fight for Oak Park Hospital

12.24.53pm BST (GMT +0100) Mon 31st Aug 2009

Liz Leffman and the Meon Valley Liberal Democrats have joined forces with colleagues in Havant to collect signatures on a petition to save plans for the new community hospital at Oak Park. The team were out together last Friday in Waterlooville town centre, where they collected hundreds of signatures at the popular Friday morning market.

Building of the new hospital should have started this summer, but NHS Hampshire has said that a funding crisis has forced it to review the project. The hospital would serve a large section of the new Meon Valley constituency, including Waterlooville, Cowplain, Horndean and Rowlands Castle.

"The hospital would bring a range of important services nearer to home for people in the area" said Liz. "I'm particularly concerned that we will lose the proposed out-patient services, as well as specialist mental health facilities for elderly patients. With an increasingly elderly population, these services are very much needed.

"The closures of the Emsworth Cottage Hospital and the Havant War Memorial Hospital have left a gaping hole, and this has put pressure on other hospitals in the area. We really need this new community hospital. We hope that the NHS Trust will listen to the voices of hundreds of local people over this"

The new hospital received planning permission in February 2009, and will cost £38m to build.

Readers can sign the Lib Dem petition online, at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/oakparkhospital