More than 8,000 people have signed a petition against plans to merge Lancaster and Preston’s hospitals.
The Government announced last year that it was planning to merge the Royal Lancaster Infirmary and Royal Preston Hospital onto a single site.
The proposal has made it onto a longlist of 10 options drawn up by the Lancashire and South Cumbria New Hospitals Programme.
Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron has handed in a 8,631-name petition to the Department for Health.
It opposes the plans and calls on the Government and health bosses to ensure residents in the South Lakes do not have to travel any further for acute hospital treatment.
Over the last few months, Mr Farron has raised the issue with the Secretary of State for Health in the House of Commons and met with Health Minister Edward Argar to warn him of the devastating consequences the plans will have for local patients.
Mr Farron said: “It’s all very well having a brand spanking new hospital but not if it’s so far away that local people don’t arrive there alive.
“It’s vital that A&E is as close to people as it can be, and certainly no further away than it already is.
“Thank you so much to everyone who signed this petition – we won’t stop fighting until this plan is off the table.”
