MORE than 14,000 people have now signed the petition to save Burford Community Hospital from the axe.

Hundreds more signatures are still coming in from all over the county, including some collected by Eynsham Parish Council, in protest against the cuts.

Deadline day is July 1 when all the petitions will be presented in a mass lobby outside 10 Downing Street and the Department of Health's headquarters at Richmond House, London.

The co-ordinated protest is against plans by Oxfordshire Community Health Trust to save £1.5m by shutting beds and closing some of the smaller hospitals - in the firing line are Burford, Watlington and Wallingford. Oxfordshire Health Authority meets on July 4 to consider two options on the future of the county's community hospitals. But the final decision will almost certainly rest with health secretary Frank Dobson because of a challenge by the Oxfordshire Community Health Council.

Dr Evan Harris, Oxford West and Abingdon MP and a former hospital doctor in Oxfordshire, said: "Closing community beds is a false economy because it will increase pressure on the acute hospitals, with a greater number of delayed discharges on patients which will occupy expensive beds needed for emergencies and waiting list patients."

He has challenged the Government to allocate more money to the county's hospitals to prevent bed closures.

The campaign is also organising another national lobby, on July 8, when coaches will be taking protesters from Oxfordshire to the House of Commons to lobby MPs in the Grand Committee Room.

Burford campaign co-ordinator Clare Sandford said: "Thousands of people are making their voices heard. We need every bit of support we can get."

On Friday the Witney Community Hospital campaign is holding a public meeting at the town's High Street Methodist Church, 7pm, to discuss the knock-on effects of closure of hospital beds.

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