Save ward petition found in skip

More than 2,000 signatures were gathered from the hospital

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.

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.

Internal investigation

"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.