PROTESTERS marched to defend Liverpool Women’s hospital and demand urgent action against the ​​creeping privatisation of vital NHS services today.

The hospital, the largest of its kind in Europe, serves some of the country’s most deprived communities but continues to be plagued by chronic underfunding.

Bakers’ union BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley, who attended the march, said: “ This government has continued where the last one left off, treating it (the NHS) as if it’s theirs to carve off, hand out and sell off for private profit.

“ The threat to Liverpool Women’s hospital is not an isolated issue, although it’s a grave one for Liverpool, it’s part of a deliberate pattern of NHS cuts 

“ We have got to say loud and clear. Women’s health is not expendable. Maternity, neonatal care, gynecology – these are not luxuries.” 

The Save Liverpool Women’s campaign was founded a decade ago amid fears over the hospital’s future, which continued last year when the local NHS trust floated relocating the facility. 

The group’s co-founder Felicity Dowling said campaigners have been “excluded” from the planning process, despite attending hospital committee meetings for over 10 years.

The government has launched a national investigation into maternity care, which is expected to conclude in December.

Labour MP for Liverpool Riverside Kim Johnson said: “ We hear constantly that one of the reasons to move the services from the site is because of safety issues.

“But earlier this month, the government decided to investigate 14 maternity units across our country and the women's hospital was not included.

“ So the arguments they’re making to move the hospital, to remove the services are just a red herring.

“Fourteen years of austerity and underfunding to our public services has brought our service to its knees.”