SURREY County Council has urged the government to deliver properly resourced healthcare across the county, in response to the threat hanging over various hospitals, including the Royal Surrey. Conservative members Michael Gosling and Denise Saliagopoulos tabled a motion, which was supported by members of all parties, at last week's Surrey County Council meeting, calling on the government to improve healthcare funding in Surrey. Mr Gosling said: "The NHS is Surrey is underfunded, about that there is no doubt. The doctors, nurses, midwives, paramedics and other staff do a wonderful job, and I pay tribute to them, but they are under-resourced and over-worked. "What Surrey needs is more investment, not less, and the last thing we need is to have valuable services taken away, which is what we are threatened with." Mrs Saliagopoulos pointed out that it was already difficult for many people to visit their relatives in hospital. "Closing hospitals will make things worse, and the fact that the government might be willing to let this happen makes me angry," she said. During the debate, Sally Marks, executive member for adults and community care, circulated a petition to all members calling on them to oppose health cuts in Surrey. This was signed by the majority of those present, and will be sent to the Secretary of State for Health, Patricia Hewitt. Mrs Marks said: "One of my concerns is that the new Primary Care Trust is going to start life with huge debts, and this isn't acceptable. I would like this government, which has written off the debts of many developing countries, to write off the debts of our PCT – debts caused by this present government's excessive meddling. It simply isn't fair to expect us, as residents, to suffer because of the government's inability to fund healthcare properly."