Petition over hospital bus loss

The petition is calling for health bosses to "save our shuttle"

Elderly people in West Sussex and Surrey are leading a petition to prevent a shuttle bus service between three hospitals being scrapped.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust said the bus was underused and would be discontinued from November.

The free Link bus, for patients, staff and visitors, has served Crawley and Horsham hospitals, and the East Surrey Hospital in Redhill.

The petition and poster campaign is supported by hospital campaigners.

Councillors in Crawley have already vowed to fight the health trust's plans not to renew or re-tender the contract for the bus after October.

We call upon the trust to immediately reverse this decision Bus petition

The trust's Andrew Hines previously said: "The facts speak for themselves... the service has cost the trust nearly £1m over the past three years.

"From our point of view that's money we really would expect to spend much better on direct patient care rather than on a bus service that is running almost empty."

Now a Hands Off The Shuttle Bus petition has said: "We, the undersigned, condemn the decision to axe the service between Crawley, Horsham and East Surrey hospitals.

"The trust transferred services from Crawley to East Surrey, and agreed to provide the shuttle bus to allow us to access those services.

"We therefore call upon the trust to immediately reverse this decision."

In August 2004, the accident and emergency unit at Crawley Hospital was controversially replaced with a minor injuries walk-in centre, with all acute and trauma patients redirected to Redhill.