HUNDREDS of people marched through the centre of Redditch yesterday to commemorate the tragic death of schoolboy Callum Cartlidge.

The poignant event was to celebrate the life of Callum as well as highlight controversial health care changes for Redditch and Bromsgrove families.

Callum, aged eight, died following a cardiac arrest on March 3.

He lived just two minutes from Redditch's Alexandra Hospital but was taken to Worcestershire Royal Hospital in Worcester- a journey that took 23 minutes.

An investigation into Callum's death is ongoing.

Callum's family joined residents and those from out of town, old and young, for a walk from Trinity High School to the town centre.

Many wore Chelsea shirts in honour of Callum’s football allegiance.

Campaigners said they wanted to highlight service cuts at Redditch's Alex Hospital.

On safety grounds, bosses at Worcestershire Acute Hospital NHS Trust, which runs the hospital, transferred all children’s services, including emergency care, maternity, neonatal and gynaecology to Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Recently, campaigners held a protest in Bromsgrove calling for a halt to a consultation on the future of Worcestershire's acute hospitals following Callum’s death.

They argued that the tragic death of Callum has changed the situation and that assurances that children in an emergency could be stabilised and resuscitated at the Alex before being transferred elsewhere appear to have been broken.

One of the most significant proposed changes involves permanently moving all hospital births, inpatient children’s services and emergency surgery from Redditch to Worcester.

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