IT may feel like Peter Corfield has been campaigning for better health care in Ludlow and the surrounding area for ever.

The long-term health campaigner has been chairman of the Ludlow Hospital League of Friends since 2006.

In that time the group has raised a six-figure sum for the hospital in the town.

The money has been used to fund a wide range of services including making it possible for people with kidney disease to have dialysis in Ludlow rather than having to travel all the way to Shrewsbury.

In making cases people requiring kidney dialysis need to have treatment three times a week and so with the travel an appointment can take up a whole day.

The League of Friends has also provided special beds as well as more general amenities for patients. It also operates a trolley service providing tea and coffee.

Peter Corfield is at the forefront of the campaign to save Ludlow Hospital and limit the damage of NHS cuts to sick people in the area.

In recognition of his service to the town he was one of the recipients of a Ludlow Town Council Civic Award.

However, it is unlikely that the award will mark the end of his battle to help secure good health services for the future.

After being at the forefront of the fight in 2006 to save Ludlow Hospital and he was in the front line of celebrations when it was announced that a new hospital and health village would be built on the Eco Park.

Disappointment followed when this was dropped at the eleventh hour following changes to Government rules on the way in which the NHS is funded.

The scheme had been intended to be funded with money from the private sector with the NHS paying it back via a long term leasing arrangement.

Since that time Peter Corfield has been involved in a new campaign to try to secure the future of the town’s existing hospital that has seen a loss of beds.

Health chiefs say that this is part of a move to get more people to be able to return home from treatment at major hospitals like Shrewsbury and Telford more quickly.

Peter Corfield has expressed fears in the past that Ludlow Hospital is being downsized to the point at which it will no longer be viable.

There is also the issue as to whether Ludlow will have a minor injuries unit in the long term for non emergency injuries and illnesses that require treatment but not full accident and emergency.