David Ruffley MP will be at the West Suffolk Hospital on Wednesday 20 December in the next stage of his campaign to save the Accident and Emergency Department at the Hospital from closure.

At 1.15pm David will meet with West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust Chairman, David Arr, to discuss the acute service review being conducted by the East of England Strategic Health Authority.

The local media are invited to join David on his Christmas visit to the West Suffolk Paediatric Ward at 2.15pm and should report to the hospital reception by 2.10pm.

At 3pm David will be appearing on Hospital Radio with John Stemp.

Following his radio interview David will talk with volunteers at the WRVS shop and meet with Hospital Chaplain, Rev David Crawley.

David said:

'This Christmas visit is the next stage in my vital campaign to save the West Suffolk Accident and Emergency Department.

'I will be meeting with West Suffolk Hospital NHS Trust Chairman David Arr and an array of Nurses, Doctors and healthcare professionals from across the hospital.

'I am particularly looking forward to my appearance on Hospital Radio when I will be able to address a wider audience of staff and patients and let them know what is being done to try to save our A & E.

'If we lose our local A & E where would the 45,000 people that attend the department every year go?

'Ipswich Hospital and Addenbrooke's Hospital are both over 29 miles from the West Suffolk- that is roughly a 40 minute journey and is the sort of distance that can costs lives.

'When I invited David Cameron to join me on a visit to the West Suffolk Hospital Accident and Emergency Department one thing was abundantly clear: the hard working nurses, doctors and support staff in our NHS care so passionately about what they do and they deserve our unstinting support.

'I will be fighting tooth and nail to keep the A & E at the West Suffolk open and I would encourage members of the public to sign my online petition to keep the our local Accident and Emergency Department open at www.tellDavidRuffley.com.

'The people of Suffolk hold their NHS in the highest regard and I intend to show this Government just how deeply we all care about this issue when I present the petition to the Prime Minister and in the House of Commons."