Stroud Health Service cuts

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Sun 11th Jun 2006

LibDems join the protest march in Stroud

Dennis Andrewartha, leader of the Lib-Dems on Stroud District Council said "These proposals tear at the very fabric of our

extended communities, they relegate us to second-class citizens in access to some of the very basic medical facilities. For those without transport and thus relying on what, in many if not most cases, is an inadequate public transport system it further isolates them".

Keith Ardron, District Councillor for Upton St Leonards is a governor elect of the NHS Partnership Trust which provides mental health services in the county. He said "Mental Health Services are facing a drastic 13% budget cut. Much of this is due to the need to bail out deficits run up by other trusts. While I can support consolidating in-patient services at fewer sites, I strongly oppose the closing of day patient services for elderly mental patients in the Stroud area. These are vulnerable people who are very reliant the day hospital". Lib-Dems are also protesting about the loss of community hospital beds throughout the area, which is bound to cause more overcrowding in our already overstretched acute hospitals in Gloucester and Cheltenham. These cuts re likely eventually to affect all waiting for a hospital bed in our area.