Fight continues to save walk in centres

More than 7,000 people are calling on Bury Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to stop their plans to close the borough’s two walk-in centres, one of which is situated in the centre of Prestwich.

The petition also calls on the Department of Health to fund local health service more adequately amid claims by the CCG that they are underfunded by millions of pounds each year.

It was launched by Bury’s Labour Party at the end of August in response to an “engagement process” run by the CCG, which finished at the end of October.

The online petition gathered more than 1,000 signatures in less than 24 hours of being set up and since then has reached more than 6,000 names.

In addition to this, local Labour Councillors and activists have collected 3150 written petitions across Bury through a combination of local street stalls and door knocking.

The petition will be submitted to the Department of Health and has been fed into the CCG’s “engagement process”.

Prestwich Cllr Eamonn O'Brien said: “We would like to thank all those who have supported our campaign and signed our petition, it has been an incredible response.

“The underfunding of our NHS, which began under the Conservative-Lib Dem Coalition Government, is a disgrace.

“Unfortunately, the consequences of this means local services will suffer. That is why we need to do everything we can to oppose these closures.”

A CCG spokesman added: “The CCG’s engagement phase on the future of urgent care services concluded at the end of October and the process of analysing feedback is underway.

“The CCG is aware of a number of mechanisms that were used to gather comments and views, in addition to the bespoke online survey created for this purpose.

“The CCG will be utilising feedback in order to make a decision on next steps at an upcoming public Governing Body meeting.”

To sign the petition, go change.org/p/bury-ccg-clinical-commissioning-group-stop-the-closure-of-the-prestwich-and-bury-walk-in-centres