Other towns fought these decisions — and one of them won
Lewisham beat this exact fight in the High Court. Chorley, in our own county, shows what happens if we don't.
They told Lewisham exactly what they're telling us: the decision's made, the money's committed, move on. Lewisham didn't move on. And in July 2013 the High Court threw the plan out.
A town that beat this exact fight
In south-east London the government wanted to downgrade the A&E and maternity units at Lewisham Hospital. Sound familiar? The community refused to accept it. More than 25,000 people marched — twice. Parents pushed buggies to the Department of Health. GPs, nurses and hospital doctors stood with them.
Then they went to court. On 31 July 2013 the High Court quashed the closure plan, ruling that the Health Secretary had acted outside his legal powers under the National Health Service Act 2006. The government appealed. The government lost. Lewisham's A&E is still open today.
The lesson is simple: these decisions are not always final. When the process is flawed, it can be undone — and a decision-maker who ignores the rules can be stopped.
A warning from our own county
We don't have to look far for the other side of the coin. In April 2016, just down the road, Chorley and South Ribble Hospital's A&E was closed suddenly over staffing. It reopened — but only part-time, 8am to 8pm. Years of marches, petitions and demonstrations of up to 3,000 people later, it has still never returned to 24 hours.
That's the pattern we're fighting. A service gets "temporarily" reduced. The reduction becomes normal. The full service never comes back. Our children's A&E at Ormskirk has already been cut to 8am–midnight since 2020. Move it 8 miles to Southport and history says it won't come back either.
Why our case is strong
Lewisham won because the process was wrong. Now look at ours. The NHS named Southport as its "preferred option" before the consultation even began. Keeping both sites was ruled out beforehand. 7,840 of us responded, keeping the children's A&E at Ormskirk was the most popular choice — and they overrode us anyway. Lancashire County Council's scrutiny committee then voted unanimously, across every party, to ask the Health Secretary to call the decision in. That request is still sitting unanswered.
Lewisham teaches us the fight is winnable. Chorley teaches us what happens if we give up.
What we're asking for
The Health Secretary must formally call in this decision before a single penny of the £33 million is spent. Lewisham proved a flawed process can be reversed. Ormskirk's process was flawed from the very start. Sign the petition, share this, and keep the pressure on — because the towns that fight back are the ones that keep their A&E.
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