A 10,000-name petition calling on politicians to help rescue the NHS from crisis has been handed over.
Members of Save Our NHS Hull and East Yorkshire have been collecting the signatures since July last year and yesterday handed them to MP Karl Turner.
The group have been fighting the local cuts, so started the petition which calls for "a full rebate of £99m to protect and maintain local NHS services".
Group members Danny Marten, Thersea Vaughan and Lyn Longbottom handed over a box crammed full of signature papers to Mr Turner, who will be passing it over in the House of Commons for the attention of Secretary for Health Jeremy Hunt.
Danny says he has first-hand experience of what the cuts have meant for hospitals in East Yorkshire, having been treated for testicular cancer.
Now in remission, he said: "Myself, and another group member Dermot Rathbone, have been through treatment for quite severe medical problems and we were noticing obvious cutbacks in services and a drop in moral in staff.
"The number of beds being lost and wards being closed at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Hull Royal and Castle Hill, was very noticeable.
"That is why we started up the campaign group – to inform the public and lobby politicians to come up with alternatives."
Campaign group chairman Lyn Longbottom was a pool nurse, working at a number of locations across the district, before retiring in October. She said: "I had to leave in the end because things were so low.
"I was coming home crying, wondering when things were going to get done.
"I don't think some people realise what is happening. You don't until you become a patient and need something that isn't there.
"We have already seen the countrywide crisis in A&E and trusts are being told to cut £20bn nationally.
"What will it take for the Government to listen?"
Theresa, a former psychiatric nurse who has been treated for arthritis, said she has had appointments cancelled.
She said: "We are all NHS patients, it is just that some of us haven't booked in yet.
"We need to do what we can to save our NHS.
"We've been collecting signatures all over the place, from Beverley to Newland Avenue, the city centre and outside the hospitals. A full range of people are backing our campaign."
Phil Morley, chief executive at Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said NHS organisations are developing ways to work more efficiently to save money, while improving care for patients.
He said: "This work is being led by our top doctors and nurses who are helping us to transform the way we provide care.
"In April, we reported that we had experienced our best ever year in terms of both meeting our key performance and finance targets.
"We are seeing some transformational and inspirational work across our wards and departments which is delivering improved care for our patients.
"A recent patient survey through the iWantGreatCare friends and family test has shown our patients rate our care 4.7 out of five"
"Times are changing across the public sector, but those organisations which are willing to change and be innovative are starting to thrive."
