Health chiefs considering moves to downgrade Telford’s Princess Royal Hospital and move some acute services to Shrewsbury have been told in no uncertain terms: Hands Off Our Hospital!

Shropshire Star readers have come forward to maintain that they and their loved ones would not be here today if it was not for the skill and dedication of Princess Royal Hospital staff.

• Tell us what the PRH did for you here

The outraged readers pledged to fight moves to transfer services such as accident & emergency, acute surgery and inpatient paediatrics to the Royal Shrewsbury hospital by 2012/13.

Now they and many others say they are horrified by the idea and have added their voices to a growing campaign to block the moves.

Richard Bradford, 44, of Albrighton, said staff at the PRH had twice saved his life.

“I was treated for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2006. The following year I suffered heart failure due to damage caused by the chemo,” he said, adding: “The staff looked after me and saved my life.”

Meanwhile, teenager Ruth McKnight, of Hadley, said she had been treated for 30 asthma attacks. “If I have to travel to Shrewsbury they tell me there is an 80 per cent chance I will not survive the trip,” she claimed.

Pauline Lowe, of Lawley, said her son would have died without the efforts of PRH staff and paramedics after he was critically injured in a car crash in 2007.

“I will forever be grateful to the PRH,” she said.

Read the full story in today’s Shropshire Star