Michael Fabricant has written to Alan Millburn, Secretary of State forHealth, asking him – or an appropriate Health Minister – to meet a delegation from the Lichfield Hospitals Comforts Fund Committee to discuss the future of hospital services in Lichfield. This follows receipt of a letter from the Committee requesting such a meeting.

"I hope that the Secretary of State or a junior Health Minister will meet the delegation from Lichfield. This is a reasonable request", says Michael Fabricant. "I have told Alan Millburn that we expected the South Staffordshire Health Authority to announce the future of hospital services in Lichfield back in October 1999. Now, over a year on, there is still no clear direction as to the future of The Victoria Hospital or St Michael’s in Lichfield. All we know is that the sword of Damocles continues to hang over the Maternity Unit, Renal Unit, and the Minor Injuries Unit. This is not only causing distress and uncertainty to patients, it is adding to the acute difficulty in recruiting nursing staff.

"I hope that a Government Minister will be willing to listen to the concerns put to him, face to face, by members of the Lichfield Hospitals Comforts Fund Committee".