Petitions carrying thousands of signatures have voiced your overwhelming objection to moving breast cancer care out of Brighton and Hove.

The call to Keep breast care in Brighton was made in just 11 days and amassed more than 28,000 signatures which were presented to health bosses yesterday.

The response shows the strength of opposition to the proposal to move the Nigel Porter Unit for Breast Care out of the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton to the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath.

Petitions are still being received, which could put the total number of signatures at more than 30,000.

Jean Nehls, co-chairman of the Friends of the Nigel Porter Unit, whose supporters collected more than 11,000 signatures, said: "The amount of support is wonderful but I'm not surprised.

"When we were collecting signatures, people were taking the petitions to get more names and saying how disgusting it was.

"They will have to listen to us now and if they don't we will take it further, to the minister of state for health. The fight isn't over."

Brighton and Hove city councillor Jayne Bennett, who was at the official hand-over, said: "We are amazed by the public support. We began the campaign handing out leaflets to passers-by in George Street but without The Argus waking people up to the proposals, the move would have happened without patients knowing.

"We did not expect so many signatures on the petition but it just goes to show how strongly people in the city feel about retaining their breast care service."

The campaign has drawn support from all political parties and Labour MPs for Brighton and Hove, Des Turner, Ivor Caplin and David Lepper.

Dr Turner's wife, Lynn, fought her own battle with the disease with the help of the Nigel Porter Unit.

She said: "The response is brilliant. I hope something is now done to keep it in the city. This has been an excellent campaign by The Argus."

The petitions were signed by men and women of all ages and professions.

Some were signed by health care professionals and doctors and others by people whose lives had been affected by the disease, which strikes one in every nine women.

Pearl Luxford, of Whitehawk Crescent, Brighton, was just one of hundreds who collected signatures.

She took petitions to the market at the community centre in Shoreham and spent Thursday night collecting more names at the bowling centre at Brighton Marina.

Mrs Luxford, whose sister died from breast cancer in 1977, said: "It should stay in Brighton and lots of people felt the same. It wasn't hard to collect the signatures. At the market they were queueing up to sign."

We handed the petitions to the chief executive of West Sussex Health Authority, Candy Morris, at its offices in Worthing yesterday. They were tied in a pink ribbon, the symbol now synonymous with breast care.

Mrs Morris said: "We can understand that people want services as close as possible to home.

"However, the existing Nigel Porter Unit is only a third of the size that is needed and it simply doesn't seem to be possible to accommodate a new breast care unit at the Royal Sussex County Hospital for at least ten years."