MPs Teresa Pearce, Clive Efford, Nick Raynsford receive health petition (From News Shopper)

MPs Teresa Pearce, Clive Efford, Nick Raynsford receive South London Healthcare Trust petition

3:07pm Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News By Tim MacFarlan, Bexley and north Kent reporter

A PETITION calling for extra funds for South London Healthcare Trust has been handed to local MPs.

ERITH and Thamesmead MP Teresa Pearce was joined by Clive Efford, MP for Eltham, and Greenwich and Woolwich MP Nick Raynsford in receiving the 9,000 signature petition outside Parliament on Tuesday (October 23).

The petition also asks for hospital closures and cuts to NHS services or staff to be prevented.

Senior organiser for the GMB Union Andy Prendergast said: "The fact that almost 9,000 staff, patients and local residents have signed this petition shows how strongly people feel about the National Health Services on which they depend.

"People are worried as to what recommendations the administrator is going to make and any affect these recommendation will have on the services that they use.

"The GMB is calling on the government to take every step necessary to ensure that people in south east London continue to receive the high standard of care that they have come to expect."

SLHT special administrator Matthew Kershaw will present his report on the future of the debt-ridden trust on Monday (October 29).