Dear Editor

WHILST we shouldn’t be surprised the that the Wye Valley NHS Trust Chief Executive won’t meet the Town Council to discuss the closure of the Minor Injuries Unit in Ross-on-Wye, we should probably be grateful that he’s arranged for one of his staff and a CCG representative to meet the Mayor next month.

There are clearly many things we need to know about how and why the Trust chose to take a key service away from the people of Ross, totally against government policy which promotes community health services.

Looking forward, the key questions are;

A) whether in the face of a 2000+ signature petition and the new government health strategy, the trust is prepared to reopen the MIU by March 1st, not May as planned.

B) how the Trust will engage with the Town Council and other stakeholders before any future service changes are imposed.

C) what the Trust will do to demonstrate it is committed to maintaining services in its community hospitals.

Many thanks to everyone who has signed our petition against closure of the MIU, but if you haven’t yet done so please do at goo.gl/9c 3FZg.  We can then present it to the Trust before they meet the Mayor.

Happy New Year.

Chris Bartrum, Paul Symonds, Jane Roberts, Caroline Utting and Julian Utting - your Ross LibDem Town Councillors