A WORRIED carer is petitioning to safeguard the provision of specialist nurses at the Countess of Chester Hospital.
Frances Laing, 47, of Boughton in Chester cares for her husband Richard Atkinson, 55, who has Multiple Sclerosis.
The couple took their five-year-old daughter Ruth, dressed as Florence Nightingale, to Chester city centre as part of the West Cheshire Against Cuts group on Saturday to hand out leaflets and collect signatures.
Due to the nature of Richard’s condition, his needs change constantly. To address these needs, he has access to a specialist MS nurse at the Countess of Chester.
Frances is concerned that the government’s £20bn cost-cutting exercise to streamline NHS services nationally will result in the number of nurses being reduced or provision being taken over by private companies.
“There are specialist nurses for conditions such as MS, Parkinson’s, cancer and Alzheimer’s who have been doing the job for 30 years,” she said.
“You can’t replace that level of knowledge and experience, so farming out these services to private companies to save money just won’t work.
“We have to make sure these services aren’t lost because families like us depend on them so much.”
Frances has written to Chester MP Stephen Mosley, who said: “I have written to the chief executive of Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust, Helen Bellairs, to find out if there are any plans to change the provision of specialist nurses.”
Countess of Chester Hospital chief executive Peter Herring said: “Like every NHS organisation, we do need to make substantial savings over the next few years but we are committed to ensuring that patient care is not compromised.”
