A PETITION calling for Launceston Hospital to be kept open and for the town to be the home of one of the proposed new ‘urgent care centres’ has already secured hundreds of signatures online, writes Amy Dennis.

The petition was set up by Joan Heaton, who lives in Launceston, and is available to view at https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/urgent-care-centre-for-launceston

It asks people to sign to show their support for ‘placing one of the urgent care centres in Launceston and keep Launceston Hospital open with extended and improved services’.

The Post has recently reported that the chief executive officer of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust assured local people that there are no threats to Launceston Hospital.

At the June meeting of Launceston Town Council, Phil Confue suggested the hospital could develop to offer more services, and that the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) ‘Shaping Our Future’ document is looking at establishing a number of ‘urgent care centres’, which would offer a mix of services, and take pressure away from A&E departments.

He suggested local people could ‘lobby that Launceston makes sense’ as a base in East Cornwall for an urgent care centre.

Joan Heaton, who is a councillor on St Stephen By Launceston Rural Parish Council, writes on the petition: “Launceston is situated on the border with Devon far from any other hospital and 25 miles from Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. We need our community hospital and an urgent care centre to serve our rural community’s health care needs.

“With a rapidly expanding population in the new housing estates on the periphery of Launceston and an ageing population in the rural hinterland, we desperately need adequate health provision in the Launceston area.

“My husband has numerous chronic health problems and we spend a great deal of time in both Launceston Hospital and Derriford Hospital. I drive him to all his appointments, and the trips to Derriford can be long and tiring for us both. We are not alone. There are many families like ours. Without emergency care in Launceston, our quality of life would be severely diminished. We need our urgent care centre in Launceston. We need a fully functioning community hospital. We need our NHS.”

Cllr Heaton told the Post: “I’m hoping for more signatures. [Mr Confue] was very reassuring about the hospital staying and that was all he could say, which was fantastic, but at our parish council meeting we really wanted to know in what form the hospital would stay. We wanted to reassure our residents things would say the same and possibly get better. I have been down at Derriford a lot lately and the consultants would love to have more clinics in Launceston.

“We were very keen to push that, that we get more clinics and more services, but also [Mr Confue] actually advised us to lobby hard for an urgent care centre. We passed a resolution at St Stephens that we would lobby hard.”

The suggestion to start a petition, Cllr Heaton said, came from her colleague Cllr Joe Caudle.

Pleased with the number of signatures on the petition so far, Cllr Heaton added: “This is the whole community we are working for. This is not political. It’s about getting everybody involved. If people agree with me, if we come together we will have a stronger voice.

“The mayor of Okehampton Jan Goffey is right with us because Devon has had so much trouble. Being here on the border we want to support them as much as possible too.”

Cllr Heaton said she would seek advice on how to deliver the petition, and said she would like to deliver it to the chief executive of Cornwall Council Kate Kennally.