TRADERS in Felixstowe are nailing their colours to the mast – and sending a clear message to health chiefs to leave the town's hospital alone.Shopkeepers all over the resort are busy putting up anHands oposters in their windows to support the Hands Off The General campaign to make their views known.

TRADERS in Felixstowe are nailing their colours to the mast – and sending a clear message to health chiefs to leave the town's hospital alone.

Shopkeepers all over the resort are busy putting up anHands oposters in their windows to support the Hands Off The General campaign to make their views known.

But the business owners have also gone one step further – and are stumping up £250 for the fighting fund.

Chamber of trade chairman Harvey Smith said the chamber was fully behind the campaign to save the Felixstowe General.

Mr Smith said: "Everyone uses it – especially the minor injuries unit – it is vital to the town.

"You can pop into the General and get seen within minutes and be back home again in no time instead of travelling to Ipswich, waiting hours, and then come back again.

"It is a horrifying thought to think we could lose it. People seem to have this view of Felixstowe as a wealthy place because of the port and then they plunder our resources – our police, our firefighters, ambulance crews and now hospitals.

"Why should we pay the price here for what has gone wrong elsewhere?

"Why should Felixstowe people have to travel up and down the A14 to Ipswich all the time? It's unacceptable."

Mr Smith said the chamber of trade was not convinced axing the hospital in Constable Road would actually lead to savings as the medical care and treatment would still need to be provided.

Evening Star readers are also being invited to display the campaign posters in the windows of their homes and can pick up a poster from our new office at 172 Hamilton Road, Felixstowe – opposite the Solar store.

n People are still being encouraged to sign the petition and forms have been placed in all Felixstowe's doctor's surgeries and chemists, as well as a number of shops, pubs, cafes and other outlets. They can also be signed at the Evening Star's Felixstowe office.

Alternatively, people can sign the petition form on this page and send it to the Evening Star offices at 172 Hamilton Road, Felixstowe.

n What do you think of the state of the health service in Suffolk? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN.