CAMPAIGNERS against the Primary Care Trust's (PCT's) proposal to close Milford Hospital have reported solid progress this week, following a meeting with PCT chairman Chris Grimes and the chief executive, Elizabeth Slinn. The Save Milford Hospital Joint Campaign Group was set up to fight the closure of Milford Hospital athrough a cross-party grouping of councillors, candidate MPs, community representatives and residents. It is supported by the MPs for Guildford and South West Surrey. At a meeting with the Primary Care Trust chiefs, the campaign group outlined their concerns over the financial, logistical and clinical implications of any decision to close the hospital. They requested that the processes to evaluate and select the preferred options should be transparent and rigorous in addressing the implications. The PCT agreed that each option would be evaluated on this basis. "At the request of Chris Grimes, as part of the ongoing consultation process we outlined a number of suggestions which we believe make the retention and expansion of Milford Hospital the most sensible and viable option. "These include increasing the services offered through Milford, better balance of resources and services between Milford and the Royal Surrey County Hospital and possible expansion of services by working with other providers and partners," commented Simon Cordon and Jeremy Hunt. The group gave the PCT a list of services and options for expanding the hospital which they believe would provide better use of money and improve medical provision. "We were happy to listen to and consider the points raised by the group as part of our wide-ranging consultation exercise," commented PCT chairman Chris Grimes. "We look forward to further discussions on some of the points raised by this and other groups in more detail," he added.
