Scarborough and Whitby's Member of Parliament, Alison Hume, has announced her intention to launch a petition to campaign for the return of stroke services to the Yorkshire Coast.
This follows concerns about the loss of the stroke service in Scarborough.
Since 2015, the vast majority of stroke patients who arrive at Scarborough A&E have been transferred to the hyper-acute stroke unit at York Hospital an hour away by road.
Patients would first go to Scarborough Hospital for their assessment, CT scan and thrombolysis treatment before going to York in what was termed a “drip and ship” model.
In 2020 the decision was taken on safety grounds to change to a direct admission to York model in order to get patients to the hyper-acute unit quicker.
Since then campaigners have been calling for the Stoke service to be reinstated in Scarborough. The Save Scarborough Hospital Group have been calling for a petition to be launched to demonstrate the level of public support for the issue.
Local Councillor Rich Maw has expressed his support for this initiative and called on the town's MP to get behind the campaign.
Scarborough and Whitby MP, Alison Hume, campaigned on local health services in the general election.
In December she had a meeting with the Health Secretary Wes Streeting where the MP says she "was able to tell him about the terrible toll the closure of the stroke service at Scarborough Hospital is taking".
Alison Hume has confirmed that she is planning to instigate a petition in the coming weeks.
The MP confirmed that the wording for both a paper petition and an e-petition has been signed off, and they will be going live over the next few weeks. Hume explained that the petition was initially put on hold due to her involvement in another petition for residents in Whitby.
Beyond the stroke service, Alison Hume also expressed concern about other local NHS services, specifically mentioning the pain clinic. She noted that people are finding it difficult to travel to York for treatment due to being in too much pain, which she described as "nonsensical" given the lack of provision in Scarborough.
Councillor Maw voiced his hope that Hume's efforts in starting these petitions, along with her campaigning for local NHS services as a priority, "might achieve more than residents can alone". He added, "not being political but I just think your position might be able to achieve that".
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