THE Free Press today begins a major new campaign, Hand Back Our Hospital, aimed at bringing back a multi-purpose general hospital to Wycombe.

We want readers to join the battle to restore key health services to the district.

This comes in the wake of the relocation of emergency surgery two weeks ago, which now means patients requiring major trauma surgery, such as after a serious road accident, will now be treated at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. And next year sees the move of inpatient maternity and children's wards and the special care baby unit to Aylesbury.

Steve Cohen, editor, said: "We are requesting a major U-turn in policy and that is not going to be easy to achieve. But if we don't act now, I believe the future generations will have no chance of ever seeing a general hospital in Wycombe again.

"We accept that the services provided at Stoke Mandeville may be very good, and we also accept that health officials are working in difficult circumstances with limited resources. They feel they have no other choice at present but to centralise services, effectively creating two halves of one larger hospital.

"That's why we need to shout from the roof-tops that people in south Bucks will simply not accept losing local services, and that we'll never give up what is rightfully ours."

Wycombe MP Paul Goodman has backed the campaign. He said: "Wycombe Hospital is being downgraded from a broadly-based hospital to what is, in essence, a local facility for planned operations."

The children and staff the Busy Bees nursery in The Rye, Abbey Way, are among the dozens of residents already supporting our fight.

Yvonne Green, manager, said: "Bring back our hospital because we feel very comfortable that the hospital is only a short distance away from the nursery. In the past children from the nursery have had emergency treatment at Wycombe Hospital and the staff there were very good. It's very worrying that one of the children at the nursery might have to be transported all the way to Aylesbury."

Stanley Fairchild, seven, a pupil at Hazlemere C of E School in Amersham Road, was treated in Stoke Mandeville when he was five after severing his finger in a gate.

His father Steve Fairchild, 47, of Marlow Hill, said it was difficult for friends and family to visit Stanley during his stay near Aylesbury because it is so far away. He said: "This town is so big, it needs its own multi-purpose hospital."

From this week, we will be compiling a list of residents, like the Fairchilds, and those at Busy Bees who want to see the government Hand Back Our Hospital.

We will be printing short statements from each of the residents, explaining why they believe these services should be returned to their local hospital in Wycombe, as opposed to one in another district,.

The list will be updated each week in the paper and on our website, and will be used to put pressure on politicians to change NHS policy in Bucks.

How to add your protest: Click here