Hospital rally will go ahead

Campaigners vow that their protest outside Stafford Hospital will still go ahead tomorrow despite warnings from the health trust and the police.

The Cure the NHS group plans to stage the rally calling for improvements to services at Stafford and Cannock Hospitals from 2pm. But in a meeting with Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust and Staffordshire Police earlier this week they were warned to stay away because it would intimidate patients and their relatives.

Group founder Julie Bailey said they intended to carry on with the rally.

She said: "It's our right to protest peacefully. All I'm concerned about is paying our respects to our loved ones who have died.

"As far as we're concerned it will be a peaceful protest

"All we want to do is raise our profile and let people know they are not safe in the hospital and they need to be aware of that.

"I think they have sent for the police to try to frighten us off, they may have pushed our relatives around but they are not going to push us around," she added.

Staffordshire Police has said officers would ask the protesters to leave because the rally would be "unlawful".

And Martin Yeates, chief executive of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, said the protest gathering would pose health, safety and security risks to the hospital. He said that the group had continually refused to meet the trust to discuss their complaints.

He said: "Our prime responsibility is to provide health care, including emergency services to the local community. We must ensure that our hospital is accessible to the public and in particular that the A&E department is freely available to the general public, ambulances and the air ambulance. Any event where a number of people gather poses health, safety and security issues which should be avoided.

"We also have a duty to protect visitors and our staff. People standing outside our hospital entrance giving out leaflets we feel would be intimidating to our patients and their visitors who are often anxious because they are either ill themselves or have sick relatives. Our staff are very hardworking and should be allowed to arrive and leave work without feeling threatened or demoralised."