Parishioners at a Redditch church have added their voices to the campaign against planned cuts at the Alexandra Hospital - reports the Redditch Advertiser.
St John's CE Church in Greenlands sent a 46 signature petition to the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the county's hospitals.
The petition stated the undersigned were opposed to the proposed closure of maternity services, 24-hour inpatient paediatric services and emergency gynaelogical services and were against the withdrawal of the majority of the chaplaincy from trust hospitals.
It said proposals would be detrimental to the welfare of woman and children, as well as the family life of those needing to use the services.
"The impact of these proposals will be most keenly felt by the socially deprived," it added.
Gary Noyes, lay pastor at the church, who has been in the post for three months, said: "As a newcomer I think the Alex is a fantastic hospital.
"From a purely professional point of view, ministering to the Woodrow and Greenlands, I would hate to see any cutbacks."
The St John's petition was part of a town wide petition sent to all churches in Redditch.
It was received and noted by the trust at a board meeting earlier this month.
In December, Friends organisations at hospitals in Redditch, Worcester and Kidderminster stepped in to fund chaplaincy posts at Worcester and Redditch after the trust proposed cutting the service to just one chaplain to serve the entire county.
Three months' public consultation on proposed cuts at the Alex is expected to start in June.
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