PENSIONERS are backing our campaign to secure the future of Royston Hospital. Terry Hutt, of the Royston Pensioners Action Group, has started a petition in support of the Crow s Hands off our Hospital initiative, and has already collected more than 100 s

PENSIONERS are backing our campaign to secure the future of Royston Hospital.

Terry Hutt, of the Royston Pensioners' Action Group, has started a petition in support of the Crow's Hands off our Hospital initiative, and has already collected more than 100 signatures.

We want to send a clear message to the East and North Herts Primary Care Trust that Royston's hospital is a vital facility which the town cannot afford to lose.

Mr Hutt said: "People are talking about the hospital and worrying that it might be gone by this time next year.

"It's a hospital for the people, paid for by the people, and we must not let it disappear. I know that so many elderly people use it who would struggle to get to Cambridge or Stevenage, and when you get to one of the bigger hospitals there is the issue of parking, which is very expensive."

Mr Hutt's petition is available on his stall, in Angel Pavement, which he sets up on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and in the Crow office.

The future of the hospital has been in doubt since the PCT blocked a plan by the Friends of Royston Hospital for a new day room at the site because "it would be in use for very little time".

A summit meeting between the PCT and a group of stakeholders, including the friends, MP Oliver Heald and local councillors, failed to produce any conclusive answers, with the PCT stating that there were no plans to close the hospital at present, and that no decisions on the site's future would be taken until next year.