The campaign to save specialist mental health hospital the Henderson has been taken to Westminster.

On Tuesday hospital consultants and Sutton MPs met the Government's mental health tzar Lewis Appleby and health minister Ivan Lewis to urge them to reconsider the new funding arrangements which will force the hospital to close.

Hospital consultant Dr John Stevens said: "It was a very good hearing. We told them we need to return to national funding, even regional funding, as local funding is questionable, clearly unsatisfactory, and leading to stupidity such as the closure of our hospital."

Campaigners are also hoping to put pressure on South West London and St George's Mental Health Trust to carry out a full public consultation on the closure. Dr Stevens said the trust has argued against the consultation, saying the closure was not a substantial change to services, but that MPs Paul Burstow and Tom Brake would be urging Sutton council's health watchdog to demand a consultation.

Having already gathered nearly 3,000 signatures on an online petition to save the hospital, campaigners are also planning to step up the campaign using Facebook, Youtube and blogging.

  • To sign the petition go to http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/SaveHenderson/