Campaign to keep the Walk in Centre at Accrington Victoria Hospital

                 PLEASE SIGN THE PETITON

On 11 October, Deputy Leader of the Council, Cllr Clare Pritchard, launched a campaign to save services at Accrington Victoria Hospital, as the walk-in centre there comes under threat from the East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group’s budget cuts.

Cllr Pritchard is urging local people to sign a petition to back the campaign to save our services at the hospital.  Cllr Pritchard spoke out as East Lancs Health Chiefs indicated recently that savings need to be made and they have started a consultation process to find out how often local people use the walk-in centre at Accrington Victoria Hospital, how often they visit their GP and how often they use their GP’s out of hours service.

To sign the petition visit  http://chn.ge/GRm8aR.

Cllr Pritchard said; “This is potentially the biggest change to local primary health care provision for many years and is a big deal for Hyndburn people. The walk in centre at Accrington Victoria Hospital is a popular and valuable service with over 35,000 people using it last year, from our local population of 80,000.  We feel to lose it would be the thin end of the wedge as we fear Hyndburn would eventually lose Accrington Victoria altogether.  We want to raise awareness of the possibility that we could lose this vital service at the hospital for local people and are urging everyone to back the campaign to keep our hospital services, as once we lose them, there’ll be no way back.”

Cllr Pam Barton, Cabinet Member for Health and Communities said; “Evidence shows that services such as the walk in service at Accrington Victoria hospital are very popular, we don’t want to lose them and so we’re keen raise awareness and ensure that local people have their say in this important debate. So please take part in the consultation at http://www.eastlancsccg.nhs.uk/get-involved/accrington-health-access-centre.”

A questionnaire is available to complete in public buildings around the Borough from libraries, GP practices and Council buildings and it can also be accessed electronically via the Council website or from the following link http://www.eastlancsccg.nhs.uk/get-involved/accrington-health-access-centre.

East Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group is also holding an ‘open day’ event in Accrington Market Hall on Saturday 12/10/13 between 10am-2pm, where the public will be able to talk to health professionals and local GP’s about the process, which closes on 30^th October 2013.