Protesters camp out in Stafford Hospital grounds over planned cuts

Around 40 people set up a dozen tents on the grounds inside the Weston Road site.

It comes as 60 beds are being axed due to low staffing levels and bosses at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and the Royal Wolverhampton Trust are set to take control of Stafford and Cannock Hospitals later this year.

Major services such as maternity, accident and emergency, and paediatrics are set to be removed or downgraded at the troubled hospital.

Support Stafford Hospital campaigner Karen Howell said: "We are fed up. What is going on at our hospital is a complete stitch-up. So we have camped out to demonstrate our frustration and to show people we are not going away."

Among those at the protest was Stuart and Louise Nixon whose three young daughters have heavily relied on services at Stafford Hospital.

Mr Nixon, 39, said: "The hospital has been responsible for saving our children's lives. If we had to go to Stoke instead of Stafford our eldest daughter would have died, our middle child born in a lay-by, and lately our youngest has even staying overnight.

"It is ridiculous that a county town will not have the services for its people. It is shocking."

Express & Star reporter Rob Golledge tweeted from the event:

Kate Godfrey, Labour's candidate for Stafford in the 2015 general election, filed one of the unsuccessful judicial reviews.

She said: "We have been told to shut up for two-and-half years. Well this protest is to show we are not going anywhere. There has been a lot of dirty tricks and we will fight on and appeal the refusals.

"We have been told we have a strong case. As a community we need and rely on these services. We are not giving up."

The protests come after it emerged that two applications to launch legal bids against the downgrading of the hospital have been rejected.

Labour parliamentary candidate Kate Godfrey and the Support Stafford Hospital campaign group both applied to start a judicial review into the controversial moves. They are planning to appeal.

The appeals need to be in by Wednesday, when the courts will then decide whether fresh hearings should take place.

Support Stafford Hospital spokewoman Cheryl Porter said the group was 'determined' to keep fighting.

She said: "It's ludicrous that it didn't go through but hopefully on appeal they will see what we are trying to do.

"When I was first told what had happened, I felt sick and that everything we had done had been ignored.

"But then I realised there is still a glimmer of hope that we can hold on to."