Royal Preston Hospital

Workers at Preston and Chorley hospitals are set to engage in a public protest on Saturday April 25.

Road closures will pave the way for the protest between 12pm and 2pm, with areas partially affected including Chancery Road, Euxton Lane, Park Road and Market Street in Astley Village, Euxton and Chorley.

The protest comes off the back of a decision made to privatise certain aspects of the health service, particularly a move by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust who are proposing to award its sterilization services contract to Synergy Health.

Karen Partington, chief executive of the trust, said: “We are completely committed to only making savings that maintain or improve services and are absolutely confident that this change would not detrimentally affect the quality of care we provide.

“Following discussions with staff and unions, we do recognise that we could have managed this process more effectively and we realise that this is an unsettling time for our sterile services staff.”

Unions and campaign groups are supporting the protest.