BROOKFIELDS MUST STAY OPEN - HOWARTH

4.15.00pm GMT Mon 10th Dec 2007

David Howarth MP

NEWS RELEASE

David Howarth MP for Cambridge has congratulated COPE (Cambridge Older People's Enterprise) for keeping up pressure on Cambridgeshire PCT to keep Brookfields Hospital open.

COPE (Cambridge Older People's Enterprise) has handed in a petition containing thousands of signatures against the Primary Care Trust's plans to close Brookfields Hospital. Mr Howarth said:

"The COPE petition has thousands of signatures which shows just how concerned people in Cambridge are about plans to close Brookfields Hospital.

"I want to congratulate COPE on their campaign which has helped to keep the future of Brookfields in the public spotlight.

"The Primary Care Trust must now listen to the thousands of elderly people represented by COPE and should withdraw their hospital closure plans."

Mr Howarth has requested an Adjournment Debate on the issue of NHS surpluses. He said: "It is not acceptable to lurch from bust one year to boom the next. If the NHS is in surplus we need to spend our own SHA surpluses and to see if the surpluses elsewhere in the Country can be used to the advantage of Cambridgeshire which has a growing population and an unfair funding formula."

End.