A high profile fund-raising appeal has been launched in a bid to safeguard the future of Ross- on-Wye Community Hospital. Local residents and businesses are being urged to make financial contributions towards the cost of new healthcare equipment the NHS cannot afford to provide for the hospital. All 15,500 homes in the Ross area have been targeted by the appeal organiser, John Greer, treasurer of the hospital's League of Friends. In a special colour brochure, he warns recipients in the town and surrounding villages and hamlets: "Your response might well determine the level of care the hospital is able to provide for you and your families in the future." Since the Friends were formed in the 1930s, they have raised around £1 million for the current hospital and its predecessor, Ross Cottage Hospital. Mr Greer declares: "No-one can be absolutely sure, but it is almost certainly because of the financial input of the Friends that Ross Hospital has not yet been threatened with closure, unlike others in the Forest of Dean. "But we can't be complacent. More money is needed to ensure that progress continues and that the Government axe does not fall on what is one of the town's most valuable assets." In his appeal, which is being backed by the two medical surgeries in the town, he states: "The community hospital is working wonders in providing a standard of care that is the envy of many towns of similar size. "But much of the credit for the very fine facilities available to both in-patients and out-patients must go to the people of Ross themselves and, more specifically, the hospital's Friends.