Over the past year or so Andrew Percy has been leading the campaign locally against Gordon Brown's NHS cuts which have seen more on more services centralised in far away hospitals and fewer and fewer local people being able to access NHS dentistry.

Andrew with Cllr Rob Waltham at Scunthorpe Hospital

NHS Campaigner Andrew Percy explains, "I decided to take up the fight against NHS cuts as I knew so many local people were concerned about them and it was about time we made sure the Government knew how much anger there was locally. Here in Brigg and Goole, in the past year alone we have seen:

• The loss of more NHS dentists and increased waiting lists for dentistry.
• The Barts House mental health unit in Goole threatened with closure. Saved only after a strong campaign by Andrew and the Belgravia Carers.
• The closure of the Rivers Ward at Goole Hospital.
• A negative re-organisation of mid-wifery services on the Isle of Axholme.
• Cuts to the out of hours GP service locally.
• Women waiting well in excess of the 36 month target for breast-screening.

The list goes on and it is important that we do all we can to prevent further losses to our local health services. I am determined to continue to fight Labour's cuts and I really do believe that people power can win the day. We were certainly able to mobilise local people against the closure of Barts House in Goole and as a result we have received a temporary stay of execution.

It is not just the services which we must fight to protect, we must also fight for fairer funding for our local NHS. I am appalled that the Government's own figures show that patients in our area are often not funded to the same level as patients nationally. This is most stark on the funding of cancer treatment. Patients in the East Riding of Yorkshire receive on average £6,198 per patient, thousands of pounds below the national average.

North Lincolnshire patients do better at £8,986 per patient but this is still about half the spending received by patients in Nottingham and Knowsley. Such massive disparities are clearly unfair and more must be done to ensure that every patient received a fair share of the funding."

Andrew has been running a petition against these NHS cuts. If you would like your name added to the list please fill in the comment box on this website.