30,000 people cannot be wrong!

 

They may not have won anything yet, but campaigners enlisted the help of an open top bus to deliver a strong message on behalf of 30,000 people that drastic health cuts will cost Montgomeryshire lives.

 

In scenes normally reserved for returning sports champions, parts of Shrewsbury came to a standstill as dozens of campaigners toured the town before finishing at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital to deliver the petitions to Health Chiefs planning to shift vital health services 14 miles up the road to Telford.

 

Campaigners as well as politicians from across the political divide have said that it will cost lives and that message was made loud and clear across the border yesterday.

 

Mum-of-three Helen Jervis has become a high profile campaigner since deciding enough was enough last month and said the response was emotional.

 

“I really enjoyed it,” she said: “It was well worth seeing all the children and nurses waving as we went past. It brought a tear to my eye.”

 

Wyn Williams, Liberal Democrat Assembly Candidate for Montgomeryshire, was on the bus with the protesters and said: “In total, around 30,000 people have signed petitions in Montgomeryshire and Shropshire against proposals to move maternity and childrens’ services.

 

“I am deeply concerned that the voices of Montgomeryshire’s mothers are being ignored and that these proposals will put lives at risk. My twin daughters were born in Shrewsbury Hospital so I understand how important access to local maternity services is. 

  

“The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has a responsibility to the people of Powys.  That is why we took our protest to Shrewsbury, to make our voices heard so that the Trust looks seriously at the implications for mothers in Montgomeryshire.”

 

On Sunday, March 20, one last attempt will be made to influence the decision when residents are being urged to form a human chain around the threatened facilities at Shrewsbury Hospital. That protest will start at 4pm.