Andy Sawford demands full disclosure of the threat to local hospital services

Labour’s Andy Sawford is demanding that residents of Corby and East Northamptonshire are told the facts about an official plan which could see Kettering General Hospital massively downgraded.

The plan – to plug an annual shortfall of £48 million in funding over five hospitals in the region including Kettering – was revealed at a meeting of the Kettering Hospital Trust members and staff earlier this week.

Stunned staff at Kettering Hospital were told to expect major cuts to A&E, maternity, acute and children’s services at TWO of the five hospitals. Officials admitted that the axe could fall on Kettering with hundreds of beds and potentially thousands of jobs lost.

Labour's Andy Sawford says:

“Under this shocking plan, Kettering Hospital could be downgraded to little more than a cottage hospital.

“My children were born at Kettering Hospital. It’s where they took my grandad when he had a heart attack. Like my family, most people in the Corby area rely on Kettering General.

“It’s our hospital. That’s why I ‘m demanding full disclosure of the threat to local services now. Local people deserve to be told the truth.

"The Government must come clean too on why they are forcing massive cuts on the NHS and wasting billions on a bureaucratic reorganization of health services. The NHS should be the envy of the world and we need to maintain it, not slash the services that we all rely on."