Damien Moore calls for public apology from hospital campaign group

[Editor: The following opinion piece was submitted by Damien Moore. To ensure a fair right of reply, Southport Labour, Southport Liberal Democrats and the Save Ormskirk & Southport Hospitals group were each invited to submit a piece in response. You can read SOSH’s response HERE. You can read the Liveral Democrat response HERE. Labour’s reponse is HERE.]

One of the greatest challenges to our hospital, being located in a coastal town, is attracting medical professionals.

It does Southport no service whatsoever when Labour and Liberal Democrat councillors, candidates, and members support a group which is wrongly informing residents and staff that Southport Hospital is set to close. It is in part due to these constant rumours of closure that our hospital is struggling in select areas, and is requesting support.

There is, however, a clear difference between requesting support and this campaign group’s message: ‘Stop the Closure of Southport Hospital‘.

If you were a nurse working a shift at the hospital and heard this news, how would you react? The idea that your job may soon be gone, having just worked flat-out during a pandemic, and the worry over impact it would have on your family.

If you were a doctor considering moving to our town to take up employment, how would you react when you read stories telling residents it is about to close?

I have had hospital staff contacting my office asking how long they have before the hospital will shut down – and how long they have to plan for a move out of our town.

I have had elderly residents who rely upon public transport to get to their medical appointments worried about how they will get to Liverpool or Preston ‘once the hospital closes’.

It does a great disservice to our town – and our hospital – to peddle these lies, which are designed to stoke fear within our community.

I am glad that the Chair and the Chief Executive of Southport & Ormskirk Hospitals have both confirmed that there is no truth to the allegations. As the hospital Chair Neil Masom has said, these claims are ‘disrespectful to the more than 3,000 people who work here’.

I urge opposition parties and groups in Southport to reflect on their conduct, and attempt cleaner campaigning in the future.  I will continue to stand up for the fantastic people who work at our hospital.

­­I call on the campaign group, and the councillors and candidates who were members of it, to apologise publicly.