Following Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust's launch of its Fit for the Future engagement exercise, campaign group REACH (Restoring Emergency and Accident at Cheltenham General Hospital) has launched its own survey on the future of A&E services at Cheltenham General Hospital.

A link to the survey can be found on the REACH website homepage - www.reachnow.org.uk 

Chris Hickey, spokesperson for REACH, said: "We have already made quite public our concerns that the Fit for the Future document could give a misleading impression, which is why we have recently published Fit for the Future Explained. This document outlines what we consider to be the real meaning that underlies the highly crafted and carefully chosen words. We are equally concerned however that the official survey is flawed, which is why today we are launching our own survey.

"We feel that our very short survey asks in an understandable manner, the crucial issues at the heart of the Fit for the Future engagement exercise. Crucially our questions also give respondents the ability to reflect on the extent to which they support or oppose each point raised. This survey should take no more than a couple of minutes to complete, so we are asking as many people as possible who have any interest in the services offered at Cheltenham General Hospital to complete the survey.

"Over the next few weeks, we will be using all the communication channels at our disposal to get the survey to the general public and would invite others to do so in any way that they can. When the results are in, we will publish them openly in full and will also be sharing them with the Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust to contribute to their engagement exercise. We trust that they will fully take on board the results no matter what they be."

REACH will also be looking at ways to make the survey available in paper form to those who do not have internet access.

Photo credit: Google Image capture July 2018