CAMPAIGNERS fighting the downgrading of Kidderminster General Hospital have carried their protest to the door of 10 Downing Street.

Traffic in Whitehall stopped during the "passionate" protest by the town's red and white army yesterday.

They handed in a report to the Prime Minister outlining the consequences of moving services from the town's hospital.

But Worcestershire Health Authority criticised campaigners and said it had only received a copy of Professor Allyson Pollock's report today - too late to prepare a response.

A week after Health Secretary Alan Milburn asked people what they wanted from the NHS, campaigners told him with the chant "Save Kidderminster Hospital".

Mr Milburn said he could not meet the protesters, but passing London buses and taxis sounded their horns in support.

In the shadow of the London Eye and Big Ben, more than 400 campaigners waved banners and red and white balloons.

The hospital will be downgraded in October following a reform of county health services, paving the way for Worcestershire's new £91m hospital - set to open in 2002.

During the transition period, Kidderminster's A&E will be based in a new trauma unit at Ronkswood and its 80 acute in-patient hospital beds will also be relocated to Worcester.

"They're playing Russian roulette with people's lives," said Wyre Forest district councillor Howard Martin, who helped present the health report Deficits Before Patients to Number 10.

"This has been a very passionate demonstration."

The report claims projected numbers for NHS beds will fall to about 40 per cent of the national average when the new hospital opens.

Liz Richards, a night co-ordinator at Kidderminster Hospital, said the fight would go on.

"Nothing's ever final. Decisions can be altered and we're looking to keep some of the services, particularly A&E," said Mrs Richards.

"I hear patients night after night voice their worries, and not just for themselves, they worry about how relatives will visit them if they're forced to move."

"There's been a splendid, spontaneous, feeling among everyone which was demonstrated outside the Department of Health when they sang 'It's a long way to Worcester city'," said Dr Richard Taylor, chairman of Save Kidderminster Hospital Campaign.