Feb 24th, 2014
NHS: Hospital closure clause poll results
By Megan Bentall
The results of our member poll are in – about whether, together, we should campaign to stop Jeremy Hunt’s hospital closure clause. Over 125,000 people took the poll – and 38 Degrees members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of launching a massive campaign to stop Jeremy Hunt rushing through a new law that would allow the government to close hospitals without listening to local peoples concerns.
Clearly, ordinary people have real concerns about the new law, and don’t like the idea of the government being able to shut down any hospital in as little as 40 days, regardless of how well the hospital is performing.
Our NHS is precious. And it’s important that we know hospitals, accident and emergency and maternity services are there for us in moments of crisis and joy. It’s terrifying to imagine the government having the power to close any hospital without hearing the wishes of the local community.
It’s going to be tough to stop Jeremy Hunt. But we’ve done it before – twice in Lewisham alone. There are exciting possibilities for next steps. And new tactics we could try which would take even Jeremy Hunt by surprise!
