Stafford hospital campers to be moved on after car park plans granted green light
A temporary car park at the County Hospital in Stafford has been given the go-ahead - meaning protesters who set up camp there five months ago will finally have to move off the site.
The 267-space car park is planned for the field where rows of tents currently stand.
Support Stafford Hospital campaigner Cheryl Porter today said that the ongoing battle to save services at the hospital would still continue and be stronger than ever after the camp is moved off.
The first campers set up on the Weston Road site on July 18 in protest at cuts to services after two legal bids to stop a planned downgrade failed.
Hundreds of people have since visited and scores of tents are still pitched on the site.
Mrs Porter said today: "The car park has been passed. We'll be sticking around until we are asked to move and then we will.
"But it does not mean to say we are giving up. We have to keep going and keep fighting more than ever."
Bosses at the hospital say the car park will be built in the early part of the New Year. It will help accommodate the increase in the number of outpatients.
The temporary car park has been granted permission for it to remain for up to three years. It will be used by staff, patients and visitors.
John Simpson, director of corporate services at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs services at Stafford, said: "The trust is reviewing the response from the planning committee following its decision to approve the construction of a temporary car park on the County Hospital site.
"We are proposing to start work early in the New Year."
Last week the campaigners called for the A&E department at County Hospital to remain as it is after figures showed Stoke is falling well short of Government set targets.
Services from Stafford's A&E are due to move over to the Royal Stoke University Hospital from next month.
According to the data published by NHS England, only 78.4 per cent of patients in Stoke's A&E were seen within four hours during the week ending December 7. The national benchmark is 95 per cent.
Stafford is keeping its A&E but critical care and emergency surgery is moving north of the county. Consultant-led maternity services, for medium to high-risk births, will also move from County Hospital to either New Cross, Wolverhampton, or Stoke on January 16 as part of an overhaul of health services.
