Cambridge MP Daniel Zeichner will call for savage health cuts to be stopped and for a full public consultation as he addresses a protest outside the meeting of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) where health bosses will decide if the axe should fall on much loved local services.

Over 10,000 patients from across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough could feel the brunt of the health cuts. Under-threat services include JET, which stops thousands of pensioners from being admitted to hospital unnecessarily, and grants to Cambridge Dial-a-ride, The Stroke Association, Alzheimer’s Association and the Carer’s Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & Norfolk.

This would mean the end for dementia cafes, the GP Carers’ Prescription Service and the provision of a stroke recovery service, causing heartache for patients and their families.

Estimates also show an additional £200,000 of “match funding” will be lost for health care provision across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough as charities will no longer be in a position to bid for the extra cash.

Mr Zeichner said: “This is short-sighted and ill-judged and local people will suffer as services disappear. What’s shocking is the CCG know that their plans will mean more people visiting A&E every day and more hospital stays – precisely what we should be trying to prevent. If you cut here, this cost and more, will simply be felt elsewhere in the NHS.”

Lisa Forbes MP for Peterborough added: “I appreciate the financial pressures on the NHS due to the underfunding by the Conservative Government but there is no excuse for planning cuts that will end up costing even more. Patients deserve better than this.”

Local NHS staff and charities have also contacted the MPs angered at a lack of consultation and have suggested the CCG has ignored its own “Decommissioning & Disinvestment Policy.”

Mr Zeichner continued:

“I am deeply concerned that the consultation was flawed and the wider public have not had their say. We now need an urgent pause and a rethink. This is no way to run our health service.”