The majority of people who have given their opinion on the futures of the Royal Preston Hospital and Royal Lancaster Infirmary say that they want to keep the facilities close to where they currently live, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) can reveal.
"I think absolutely things are getting better," Danville Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said. "This is how I describe it: We re not where we want to be, but we are trending
MP Tim Farron has written to Matt Hancock asking him to drop proposals to merge the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Royal Preston Hospital. In October, the Government announced plans to replace the two hospitals with ‘either a single or two hospitals’, prompting fears that key health services could be moved further away. At a recent meeting of Lancashire County Council’s health scrutiny committee, the executive director of the Lancashire and South Cumbria new hospitals programme, Jerry Hawker said: “At this stage, I don’t think we can rule out any option.” Writing to Mr Hancock, Mr Farron said: “I’m deeply alarmed to see plans to shut the Royal Lancaster Infirmary rear their ugly head again. While investment in our local NHS is badly needed, this simply cannot not result in residents having to travel even further to access vital health services like A&E.”