Organisers of a demonstration aimed at protesting against cuts in the NHS were taken by surprise when thousands of people turned up to join a march and rally.
Unison and the Royal College of Nursing had been expecting a few hundred people to take part in the protest in Nottingham.
But Unison said thousands of people crammed into the city centre to voice their concern over the threat to jobs and hospital services in the region.
Karen Jennings, the union's head of health, said: "This is a real demonstration of the concern felt by the public about the future of health services. They know that massive cuts are planned, including the closure of accident and emergency centres. People are genuinely frightened that they will not have the health services they need."
Unison said NHS trusts in the East Midlands had now announced cuts of more than £200 million, including £60 million in Nottingham, £15 million in Derby, £23 million in Lincolnshire, £25 million in Leicester and £18 million in Northampton.
The union warned that, in the newly-merged Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, there will be 186 fewer beds and said that ward closures were being announced almost daily, leading to longer waiting lists.
Around 5,000 health workers' jobs were now under threat in the East Midlands, the union warned.
"These redundancies will weaken local delivery of NHS services and must be stopped," said Ms Jennings.
Unison will raise its concerns about NHS cuts during the forthcoming Labour party conference.
Hundreds of workers at NHS Logistics will stage a second strike on Wednesday in protest at their jobs being privatised, putting further pressure on the government to halt its controversial NHS reforms. The workers staged a 24-hour walkout in protest at a lucrative 10-year contract being awarded to German delivery giant, DHL.
