THOUSANDS of people signed a petition opposing cuts in a hospital's services during a day of action.

The final count of signatures on the petition regarding Scarborough Hospital revealed that 16,200 people signed the document on Monday.

Campaigners collected signatures at nine locations in and around Scarborough.

The day was organised by Healthcare of North and East Yorkshire (Honey), an action group made up of doctors, consultants, nurses, porters, cleaning staff and other health workers.

Scarborough Health Trust announced last month that 600 jobs would be axed to save £10m, but health unions believe the job losses could be closer to a thousand.

The petitions will now be delivered to 10 Downing Street and the Department of Health.

Scarborough Hospital was named along with the University Hospital of Hartlepool as part of a list by Conservative leader David Cameron to be at risk of losing key services such as accident and emergency and consultant-led maternity units.

The move to highlight alleged weaknesses in the NHS is part of the Tory leader's campaign to regain the political initiative against Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In the short-term, patients are expected to make greater use of the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton.

Within the next decade, both hospitals are to be demolished and replaced with a new hospital.

Scarborough Hospital bosses recently warned that unless serious inroads are made into a £7.2m debt services may be moved to other hospitals.