17,000 sign Causeway Hospital petition, say Unison

The petition, which has been organised by Unison, will be available for signature in Coleraine Town Hall until Saturday.

A spokesperson for the Causeway branch told The Coleraine Times: “We would like to thank the MLA’s and councillors for their help with the petition to save our Causeway Acute Services and our A&E department. We currently have over 17,000 signatures and they are still coming in.

“Unison will be taking a bus with MLA’s and councillors to Stormont on May 22 to present the petition to Mr Poots.

“Anyone interested in going can contact Claire on 028 70327032 ext 5274 and leave a message with your contact details.

“The bus will be leaving the front entrance of Causeway Hospital at 8.30am.

“If anyone has any signed petitions could they send them to Kim Hall, Unison office, Causeway Hospital, 2 Newbridge road Coleraine, BT52 1HS or leave them at the front reception at Causeway Hospital, addressed to Kim Hall, Unison office.

“Unison would like to take the opportunity to thank the public for all their support”.

Rodger Doherty, Causeway Trades Union Secretary, said: “It is vital that local people make their voices heard in telling Health Minister, Edwin Poots, that we need Accident and Emergency services retained in this area or lives will be lost.

“If Causeway A&E closes there will be significant jobs losses especially if the proposed centralising of administration functions in Antrim goes ahead. This would be a further blow to the area which has already lost many jobs in the current economic downturn.”