RESIDENTS outraged by proposals to downgrade the Alexandra Hospital are urged to turn out in force at a public meeting tomorrow night.

The meeting at Redditch Town Hall, which has been called by town MP Jacqui Smith, will give residents the chance to pose their questions about the proposed cuts to members of the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust board.

The trust, which runs the Alex, wants to save up to £27 million and has proposed centralising inpatient obstetric, gynaecology and paediatric departments and transferring A&E, emergency surgical services, cancer surgery and critical care to the Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Advertiser readers have already shown their depth of feeling, with more than 17,000 putting their names to our petition calling on the trust to rethink the plans.

Ms Smith will take the petition to health chiefs in Worcester this month as just one expression of the strength of protest.

Meanwhile, Conservative Party spokeswoman for Redditch Karen Lumley, who narrowly lost to Ms Smith at the May General Election, attended another public meeting about the proposals in Bromsgrove on Saturday.

She said more than 200 people turned up for the meeting at the Artrix Centre, called by Bromsgrove Tory MP JUlie Kirkbride, and the overwhelming feeling was that they wanted to keep all the services at the Alex.

She added: "There was definitely a feeling of 'Keep your hands off our Alex!'"

Mrs Lumley and Redditch Council Tory Conservative group leader Councillor Carole Gandy will meet trust board members at the Alex tomorrow prior to the public meeting, which starts at 7pm.

"We will be forwarding our concerns about the proposed cuts," said Mrs Lumley.