campaigners in the support stafford hospital group led a 50,000-strong march through the centre of stafford in april 2013 - a rally where protesters waved banners saying "stafford saved my dad" and "stafford looks after my son". the group said "we need to have an intensive care unit here, we need to have an accident and emergency 24 hours a day and we believe that's possible". a protest camp with more than 30 tents was established outside the hospital by the group in july 2014. julian porter, one of the founders of the camp said he feared increased journey times for patients making the trip from stafford to one of the other hospitals could risk lives and increase the burden elsewhere.