The Cornish campaigners wanted to make their voices heard

Health workers and members of the public from Devon and Cornwall joined hundreds from around the country.

The protesters included a group of more than 50 from Cornwall, worried about the threat to St Michael's Hospital in Hayle and West Cornwall Hospital.

The Minister for Health said he had not been shown convincing evidence Cornwall was getting a raw deal.

The campaigners want an end to cuts, closures and privatisation, but Ivan Lewis said it was crucial to shift funding from hospital-based care to community-based preventative care.

Services downgraded

Many of those who attended were amongst the 27,000 people who took to the streets in last summer to campaign against threats to St Michael's and West Cornwall hospitals.

They say services such as the breast cancer unit and A&E have now been downgraded, and they want action.

Sylvia Smith, mayor of the Cornish town of St Just, said the journey to London was important.

"We have to come up here and be heard, because more and more they are ignoring us," she said.

"The new primary care trust in Cornwall is listening, but it's not doing what we, the public, want and what we are paying for."

As part of a day of national protests, the campaigners said the aim was to make their cause known and get action.