A public meeting over proposals to reduce the number of mental health beds in the Waveney and Great Yarmouth area is to be held in Lowestoft tonight.

Ahead of the meeting at the North Lowestoft United Reformed Church, in London Road North an open letter from nurses will be handed out to people attending the public consultation which starts at 6pm.

Click here to read the letter

The letter says that staff working at the mental health trust have raised concerns about the validity of the public consultation currently taking place in Great Yarmouth and Waveney.

A 12-week consultation has begun over the proposals by Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, which is looking to cut the number of adult acute beds at Carlton Court, near Lowestoft and Northgate Hospital in Yarmouth from 28 to 20.

HealthEast – the Clinical Commissioning Group for the area – has arranged the meetings, with the first being held tonight.

And ahead of the tonight's meeting people are being urged to show their opposition to the proposed cuts at Carlton Court hospital by attending a protest rally outside the church form 5.30pm.