In a shameful act of negligence to the Welwyn Hatfield Community, the East North Herts Clinical Commissioning group has voted unanimously to close the overnight services at the QE2 Urgent Care Centre.

Labour has been campaigning against these proposals for some time, and rallied alongside a little over 3000 residents in protest against these proposals.

Despite questions and challenges from Rosie Newbigging, Labour campaigners and members of the public the decision was made to close the Urgent Care Centre overnight.

Councillor Max Holloway said

“I know this will come to a blow to many residents, but it certainly won’t come as a surprise. When you look at the NHS it’s the same old story. Under the Conservatives it gets carved up, closed down and sold off – all while they pretend to care.

I don’t think anyone would object to the temporary suspension of overnight services at the Urgent Care Centre during the pandemic, however it’s an act of incredible bad faith to use the fact that no one-complained about the temporary suspension during this time as a reason to push ahead.

Thank you to everyone who joined our campaign to try and stop this from happening.”

Rosie Newbigging, Former Parliamentary Candidate for Labour in Welwyn Hatfield said:

“The closure of the overnight service at the UCC marks a further decimation of essential NHS provision. 

Local people fought hard to stop the closure of the service 2 years ago when we won a temporary reprieve. The past 16 months have been far from normal and this is a deeply flawed decision flying in the face of local opinion. 

The crisis in nursing recruitment can’t be solved by robbing one part of the service to pay for another. We need massive investment in the NHS after 11 years of Tory cuts, a proper pay rise of 15% and the reinstatement of free movement so that workers from other countries can live and work in the UK freely and without restriction. 

We also need the reinstatement of a fully functioning local hospital to meet the needs of a growing population, widening health inequalities and the long term health impacts of Covid. 

The people of Welwyn Hatfield deserve better.”