This Saturday saw more than 50 people turnout to hold a protest to Save Erdington Walk in Centre at the Six Ways roundabout in Erdington. The protest was calling for the Erdington Walk in Centre to be kept open. All the Walk in Centres across the Birmingham and Solihull area are currently being reviewed as part of a process to look at how urgent care is dealt with in the Region. The Walk in Centres were orginally set up to reduce pressure on the Accident and Emergency service. However despite not having made a large reduction in the number of people using A and E they have become a vital part of the NHS family providing residents with care when they need it.
The protest saw hardworking local Cllr's Robert Alden, Gareth Moore and Bob Beauchamp (all Conservative, Erdington Ward) attend along with local residents. The group spread themselves around Six Ways island so that people usng any of the 6 junctions could see what was being campaigned for.
Cllr Robert Alden, who has been at the forefront of the fight to keep the centre open, said "It is was wonderful to see so many people and help raise awareness of what was happening. Everything is to play for currently with the Centre and it is vital that the case is put for what the centre means to our local area. The support that is being provided by the local community has been wonderful and will hopefully help show the centres value. The formal review is set to start in March and then we will have a better idea of what the future holds".
Cllr Bob Beauchamp said "we have always worked to put Erdington first and so have been fighting hard to ensure that the centre remains open as it is important to the local area. It was great to see so many cars toot in support of the walk in centre".