Campaigners could camp outside Stafford Hospital for further two weeks
Campaigners who set up camp at Stafford Hospital could continue their protest for another two weeks, it has emerged.
Around 100 people braved thunderstorms and torrential rain to camp out in the hospital grounds in the latest phase of their campaign to prevent the loss of services.
Major services such as maternity, accident and emergency, and paediatrics are set to be removed or downgraded at the troubled Weston Road site and 60 beds are being axed due to low staffing levels.
Bosses at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire and the Royal Wolverhampton Trust are set to take control of Stafford and Cannock Hospitals later this year.
Support Stafford Hospital campaigner Julian Porter said campaigners will continue to fight for as long as they have to - whatever the weather.
He added: "We could be here until the end of the month or for another two weeks I just can't put a time on it.
"I only planned for us to camp out for one night but everyone is having such a good communal time that they want it to carry on.
"We want the administrators to see that we are still here and we are going to continue our fight.
"We had a very stormy night on Friday but thankfully most of the weekend it has been fine."
The protests come after it emerged that two applications to launch legal bids against the downgrading of the hospital have been rejected.
Mr Porter said the group is hopeful for an appeal and added that there is 'still a glimmer of hope.'
"I can't believe it didn't go through but it seems like everything we have done is being ignored," he said.
"I am hopeful we will get an appeal through because everyone is so supportive of what we are doing.
"The whole experience has been amazing and we have had such a lot of support from patients going into the hospital and cars have been horning us as they drive past.
"At one point we were trending on Twitter and we had 200 new members on our Facebook page which has helped us to keep on going.
"People have been bringing us hot drinks and cream cakes and telling us to keep fighting so we are determined to keep Stafford Hospital in the public domain and continue to organise things like this protest."
