CAMPAIGNERS from Gloucestershire have travelled to London today, to hear whether or not they can stop the county’s community hospitals being transferred out of the NHS.

Stroud pensioner Michael Lloyd, 75, along with supporters from Stroud Against the Cuts, will be at the High Court in London today, February 8, in a bid to stop the transfer.

If an initial permissive hearing is successful the case will then proceed to full Judicial Review tomorrow, Thursday, February 9.

Mr Lloyed, a retired railwayman, launched the legal challenge last year after NHS Gloucestershire decided to transfer the county’s nine community hospitals, including the new Vale Community Hospital in Dursley, and local health services, such as physiotherapists and health visitors, out of the NHS into a standalone Community Interest Company (CIC).

Mr Lloyd said: "I’m worried that if local health services leave the NHS they will be more vulnerable to cuts, more fragmented, more bureaucratic and less accountable. Staff tell me they are frightened for their future, and have had no say in leaving they NHS they take pride in working for."

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