Campaigners
trying to save a children's ward say they are "sickened" after a petition
they handed to the health secretary was found dumped in a skip.
How Many More PETITIONS Have
Been Dumped
After all the effort put into
getting two thousand signatures on a petition to keep open a
children’s ward in Cheltenham and presenting to the health secretary
John Reid, we were appalled to read the whole thing was then dumped
into a skip with part of the bundle of personal correspondence
addressed to DR Reid (“Disgrace: Petition to save ward is dumped in
skip, April 21)
Julie Coles, who organised the
petition at Cheltenham General Hospital, was upset that DR Reid
couldn’t be even bothered to look at it.
But doesn’t this go to show how
little this Government cares what the people think about this or any
other issue? How many other petitions have been treated in the same
manner? I hope Cheltenham and the rest of the country show this
Government Just what we think of it on May 5th
Mrs P Hopton Cheltenham,
Glos.
More than 2,000 signatures were gathered,
opposing plans to downgrade Battledown ward at Cheltenham
General.
The Department of Health has not
apologised but said it had made checks on the letters and
petition and found they had been "logged and actioned".
It says it has made changes to the way
hard copies of letters are dealt with.
"This is absolutely sickening, I feel
very, very angry" said campaigner Julie Coles.
The letters were handed in person to John
Reid by Ms Coles during a visit to Gloucester on 15 March.
They turned up 50 miles away in Oxford in
a recycling bin along with personal letters to the Prime
Minister.
"All correspondence to health ministers is
scanned into a confidential database so that it can be
circulated securely," said a spokesperson for the Department
of Health.
"The petition and other correspondence
were then put in the Department's internal post system and
should not have left Richmond House.
"We have instigated immediate changes to
the way hard copies of correspondence are dealt with in order
to avoid this happening again, and will be carrying out a full
internal investigation.
But that is not enough to satisfy some of
the campaigners.
"I really can't see that they can have
done everything that they said they had done within 24 hours,"
said Julie Coles.
BBC
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