A DEMONSTRATION has been staged in Worcestershire over a controversial shake-up of the NHS.

Members of the Labour Party marched from Evesham's Market Square to the town's community hospital last Saturday chanting 'Save our NHS'.

The branch says it wanted to draw attention to a "crisis", with concerns about how council-led adult social care will cope in the years ahead.

As we revealed last week, proposals have been published to slash the number of beds at Worcestershire's five community hospitals by 44 per cent.

The move, which would affect the mini-hospital in Evesham, would see the beds across all five sites fall from 324 to 182 by 2020/21.

During the march, party activists said they were concerned about the implications of the new five-year Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP), which is out for consultation.

Campaign organiser Stan Emmett, said: "These STPs are a huge threat to the NHS as we know it.

"There seems to be an effort by STP leaders to avoid engagement and consultation.

"A recent British Medical Association survey of consultants and GPs revealed that 59 per cent had not even heard of STPs, even though their approval should be sought."

But NHS chiefs say the health service facing a stark £250 million funding gap unless it reforms across Worcestershire and Herefordshire.

Acute trust bosses want to fund a wave of new at-home care services, including sending nurses into neighbourhoods, as part of a radical attempt to reduce the need for people to visit hospitals in person.

The county's STP, done in conjunction with Herefordshire, also commits to reducing back office costs 20 per cent to help prop up the front line.

Sarah Dugan, who is leading the work, said: “Overall the services we provide for people in Worcestershire are good.

"But we do face some significant local challenges now and into the future, and it's important we address these together, as a health and care system with the support of local people.

"In Worcestershire we have based our plans around the feedback from local people over recent years and we want to continue these conversations to help shape our thinking and develop them into more detailed proposals.”