The NHS held a public meeting in Royston last week to discuss the future of the town's health services.

The meeting, run by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care System (C&P ICS), took place at Coombes Community Centre on Wednesday, August 2,.

Sixty-nine people attended to share their experiences of accessing healthcare in the town, and discuss what improvements they would like to see to existing services.

This follows the launch of the Let's Talk: Royston survey, which runs until 11 August and has had over 1,600 responses.

Attendees were asked to discuss four key issues: What services do we want and how far are we willing to travel? What our are future health aspirations? What would make Royston as happier and healthier place? And how do we improve care and help people stay well for longer?

John Hedges, treasurer of HeathAid Royston, which supports healthcare in the town and surrounding villages, said: "Discussion was wide ranging, considering many issues that contribute to wellbeing other than healthcare services.

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"On healthcare infrastructure in the town, the need for locally accessible x-ray, ultrasound scanning, minor injuries and chronic disease out-patient clinics was strongly confirmed, with the difficulty of accessing services at the major hospital sites being a factor.

"The lack of local NHS dentistry for adults was noted. The need to exploit the use of facilities at Royston Hospital was strongly supported with an end to the deliberate, gradual withdrawal of services based at the hospital."

A spokesperson for NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough added: "We were delighted that so many people were able to join our public meeting for Let’s Talk: Royston.

"We’d like to thank everyone who came for having such open and constructive conversations about the health and care services that matter most to them.

"It is clear from the discussions that local people feel passionately about healthcare and we will continue to listen and work with them to understand their health and care needs now and in future.

"This is just the start of the conversation and there will be many opportunities over the coming months for people to have their say."