Burstow to join Bed-push to highlight chaos at Epsom and St Helier

3.45.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 23rd Apr 2007

Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, will join local Health Campaigners in a bed push between St Helier and Epsom Hospitals to highlight the chaos currently engulfing the Epsom and St Helier Hospital Trust.

Epsom and St Helier Hospital Trust - which has been mired in problems since August last year when plans to build a new hospital at St Helier were shelved - admitted last week that it is being forced to save almost twice the £24 million asked of it last year. Mr Burstow - who has been at the forefront of the Save Our St Helier campaign - is concerned by the impact which the first tranche of cuts are having on patient care.

Mr Burstow will be part of a small team who aim to push a hospital bed between the two Hospitals on May 5th to raise awareness of the problems faced by the Trust. The team will leave St Helier at 9am, arriving in Nonsuch Park at around 10.30am, before reaching Epsom Hospital for a rally at 12.30pm.

Mr Burstow will join the team for the first 'leg' of the push, from St Helier Hospital to Nonsuch Park. He is calling on local people to give the team a great send-off from St Helier Hospital.

Commenting on his announcement, Paul Burstow MP said:

"This may seem like a light-hearted event, but in reality it is deadly serious - the first round of bed cuts is already having a negative impact on patient care, but there are much larger cuts still to come."

"The bed-push will provide an excellent way to publicise the chaos faced by staff and patients at St Helier and Epsom Hospitals."

"I hope that local people will turn out at St Helier on May 5th to show their opposition to the cost-cutting measures which are putting local lives at risk."