Express calls for services to stay

THE Macclesfield Express is calling on NHS bosses to abandon plans to move health services out of the borough.

Residents are to be asked which inpatient service should remain locally when the Millbrook Unit closes – either mental health support or dementia care – with the other moved to Chester.

The Express says these are both essential services which should be provided locally and it is unfair to ask residents which should go. It is akin to asking them which arm they would like chopping off and handing them the surgeon’s knife.

As one reader eloquently put it, NHS bosses need to realise that hospitals are a key part of our community, not something separate which can be transferred 40 miles down the road without having a ‘devastating impact’ locally.

Both of these services are there to provide support for some of the most vulnerable members of the community.

Making them travel to Chester to access care is inevitably going to result in more hardship and anxiety for them and their families at a time when they need help most.

There is opposition to these proposals right across the community - and we stand squarely with those fighting these proposals. Once again our message to NHS bosses is ‘hands off our health services’.