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Paper answers critics of hospital saga coverage

A weekly paper in the West Midlands has vowed to continue its coverage of a controversial hospital plan – despite accusations of biased reporting.

The Kidderminster Shuttle has been running a campaign to save its local hospital after the health authority announced plans to centralise services.

The saga has been running for more than two years – and some sections of the community believe the subject is closed.

But editor Clive Joyce has backed his staff and their coverage – and claims the battle is not yet over.

He told HoldtheFrontPage: “This newspaper has been the subject of criticism for some time now over our coverage of the campaign to save services at Kidderminster Hospital.

“The health authorities, politicians and their supporters point the fingerbecause they wanted the issue to go away a long time ago.

“The fact is that 130,000 people have had an accident and emergencydepartment taken away from them and they have to travel 18 miles forso-called emergency treatment.”

He said the hospital had also been downgraded in other areas and believed that health professionals had failed to convince the local population the move was “progress”.

Kidderminster hospital has had millions of pounds spent on it in recent years and even won a Charter Mark for outstanding service – the only hospital in Worcestershire to do so.

Mr Joyce has published a tough-talking front page to put the record straight on the coverage after the latest round of brickbats aimed at the paper.

He said: “We felt we had to put the record straight on our coverage. I believe we have our finger on the pulse and that the issue is still very much in the minds of our readers.

“The newspaper was distributed on Thursday evening and by Friday lunchtime we had had nearly 50 telephone calls and emails ofcongratulations. It was significant we had received no calls of criticismat that point.

“We take our watchdog role seriously and we will continue to highlight the shortcomings of the health service in our district – or any other service for that matter.”

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