Hospital protests of the past: Supporters of St Richard’s in Chichester most vocal of all hospital campaigners

We were reminded recently of the campaigns of 2006 and 2007, when a major shake-up of the health service in Sussex was proposed and thousands of people took to the streets of Chichester and Bognor Regis in protest.

With St Richard’s under threat, Chichester had the loudest voice of all the West Sussex campaigners fighting for their hospital – and almost 5,000 wrote directly to health chiefs with their views.

The strategic health authority, which was overseeing a consultation on the controversial discussion document Fit For the Future, had received more than 6,000 representations from the whole of Sussex and Surrey about the plans – and the majority of them were from residents in the Chichester, Bognor Regis and Midhurst areas, showing their support for St Richard’s Hospital.

A petition of more than 130,000 names was also collected by the Support St Richard’s Campaign.

A report to the SHA’s board said: “A total of 6,226 people responded to the discussion document. This includes 3,651 people who signed a petition or campaign letter to protest against the perceived closure or downgrading of a local hospital and 2,575 who wrote in with a more detailed response to the issues raised in the document.

“The majority (81 per cent) raised concerns about the possible closure of St Richard’s Hospital and most responses were sent by members of the public (87 per cent).”