Time for health secretary to listen
More than 16,000 people sign petition to save cancer service
This week we handed over our save Station 15 petition to health bosses at the Scottish Government.
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock MP Allan Dorans popped along to the Ayrshire Post office on behalf of the Minister for Public Health Joe Fitzpatrick.
A busy day of final counting found that an incredible 16,061 of you got behind our campaign to retain all existing services currently at Station 15.
And astonishingly 2,260 of those were hand signed and posted through our letterbox at Nile Court.
Picking up the overflowing bucket of signatures Mr Dorans said: “It’s great to see such large scale public involvement and public interest in this.”
Gary Fanning, editor of the Ayrshire Post, said: “The response to our campaign really has been magnificent.
“From day one the signatures came flooding in and it’s just been incredible – we are so grateful for the support.
“We have done all we can now and we just hope it will make a difference and halt these proposals.
“Statistics show that one in two people will be 40 times more than the beluga whale it is named after, with the average beluga whale weighing 1.4 tons.
There are only two BelugaXL planes in service with a fleet of six scheduled to be in the skies by 2023 as the ST is gradually diagnosed with cancer so this is something that affects the whole community.
“The Ayrshire Post are here to represent the community and we will always stand up and campaign for our readers.
“Thank you so much for your support.”
The petition will now be handed to the Public Health Minister before the NHS Ayrshire & Arran board make a decision at a meeting on Sunday, March 30. phased out.
The BelugaXL performed rejected take offs at Prestwick, carried out circuits and tested its brakes before heading home.
Avid aviation fan Terry Wright, 74, of Prestwick, captured this photo.