If the Nigel Porter Breast Care Unit is moved to the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, a lot of women from the Brighton and Hove area will not bother to go to this hospital.

The health trust is not thinking about the women or their families. Not everyone has a car and to get to this hospital can be costly for a family or pensioner.

I have been to the Princess Royal Hospital about four years ago when I had some very painful headaches and could not see properly.

I was first sent to the Sussex County Eye Hospital and I had to get eye tests and brain scans. The consultant said I had a cyst. I was told to see another consultant but, because he worked between the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Princess Royal Hospital, I had to go to Haywards Heath to see him.

My appointment was for 9am. I phoned the bus station in Pool Valley, Brighton, for the times.

To get to my appointment in time, I would have had to get a bus at 7.15am. The bus goes the longest way round to get there. I could not manage this from where I live, so I had to go by train.

I caught the train at Hove station. To get there, I had to take a taxi because the buses from Hangleton don't run on time or go near the station.

The taxi fare from my house to the station cost £4. Because I had to get a train before 9am, the fare cost £13.50 return. When I got to Haywards Heath, I could not get a bus from the station to the hospital, so I had to get another taxi, which cost another £4.

After my appointment, I had the same problem getting home. In all, this appointment cost me £29, which was money I could not afford, but I had no choice.

How is a woman with a family going to pay this sort of money and how is a person in this hospital going to have visitors at this sort of cost?

This unit must stay in Brighton. There is too much healthcare going out of the area. It must stay or lives will be at risk.

-Eileen Birch, Rowan Avenue, Hove