DO your job and join the battle for the best care for Suffolk patients.

Rebecca Lefort

THE Evening Star has today written an open letter to Ipswich's MP, Chris Mole, urging him to stand up for his constituents as never before.

The under-fire Labour politician needs to demand that a specialist heart centre is created in the town so emergency heart attack patients will not face horrific dashes for life outside the county.

Highly-principled Mr Mole has backed the controversial move to send patients to centres set up in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, but not Suffolk, and in doing so has faced the wrath of those he represents.

Today the Star is spelling out why he must change his mind and join the fight for the best possible care to be provided not in far-flung centres, but in Ipswich.

It comes as John Gummer, the MP for Suffolk Coastal, continued to speak up for his constituents at a passionate public meeting in Felixstowe against the move.

Meanwhile the Star has also written to the country's new health secretary, Andy Burnham, asking him to step in and prove he is serious about saving Suffolk lives.

This challenge could be a great opportunity in disguise for the new minister, because if he moves swiftly and decisively to stop the plans it will prove his intention to really create a patient-led NHS.