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Alarm over A&E threat
9:53am Thursday 21st June 2007
Two hospital accident and emergency departments in West Sussex will be axed under controversial proposals to shake up health services in the county.
West Sussex Primary Care Trust and Brighton and Hove City Primary Care Trust have published details of longawaited plans which will lead to there being only one major hospital in the county instead of the existing three.
Worthing Hospital, St Richard's Hospital in Chichester and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath face losing their accident and emergency departments, maternity services and intensive care units as a result of the shakeup.
The Princess Royal could be left as just a community hospital, with patients from Brighton and Hove being forced to go to Worthing for planned operations.
Campaigners last night reacted with fury and promised they would fight the proposals.
West Sussex County Council leader Henry Smith said: "These are disastrous proposals which will hurt every community in the county.
"This is a bleak picture of the future for health services in West Sussex and the county council rejects it totally. "I am bitterly disappointed."
Mike Coleman, the council's deputy leader and health spokesman, said: "Frankly, these proposals are so bad we are urging the board of the primary care trust next week to reject them and demand improvements before the public are consulted.
"There is little point in asking people whether they could support such a terrible set of changes to health services across West Sussex.
"The changes will also have a major impact on services at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton which will have to soak up thousands of extra patients a year."
How will you be affected by the proposed changes? Leave your comments below.
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ComradeK, Brighton says...
10:35am Thu 21 Jun 07
Private involvment in NHS services is sucking money away from patients through long expensive contracts.
Mercury Health in Haywards Heath is currently being paid for operations they don't even do, PFI schemes are mortgaging taxpayers money for the benefit of big business profits (read today's argus story about the new children's hospital), while operations carried out by private firms cost 20-30% more than if done by the NHS because private companies put profits before people!
Involving private companies in health provision gives them an incentive to make sure there are always ill people - to make money! If there were no ill people they would lose money! Why do people think we are always peddled treatments rather than cures?
The hundreds of thousands that have demonstrated across the country need to get together to create one massive voice against the destruction of our NHS!
Demonstrate in Brighton on Sat 30 June, 12 noon on The Level! And on the NATIONAL DEMONSTRATION in London on 13 October
Cancel PFI schemes, renationalise the pharmaceutical industry, KEEP OUR NHS PUBLIC!
People first, not profits!
visit www.brightonkeepourn
hspublic.co.uk
Patricia Maggs, Southwick says...
10:40am Thu 21 Jun 07
Several names spring to mind but I am too polite to say!.
It's such a huge county.
They all deserve to be kept open.
All the hospitals do sterling work....particularly Worthing ,where I am being treated for inflamatory rheumatoid arthritus and thanks to all the staff ,particularly Nurse Finney, in that department .The medication that I have been perscribed.....after trying diffferent types .......has made me so much more mobile and less dependant on my family...and also best of all the pain is practically gone.
I think one A & E in West Sussex is absolutely disgraceful and the powers that be should be sacked and real people who actually care should replace them.
Keep the hospitals in West Sussex as they are and leave them alone!
SAVE WEST SUSSEX HOSPITALS!!!!
Easy 10, says...
11:57am Thu 21 Jun 07
I work for an executive recruitment company. Several of our consultants work with NHS Trusts throughout the country, "headhunting", and recruiting senior managers / directors into various industries, including the NHS. Here's a typical example of the kind of cash being billed directly to the NHS. In this case, it was to recruit a new Finance Director into an NHS Trust in the southern counties:
£12,100 Retainer fee
£12,100 Shortlist fee
£15,800 placement fee
+vat £7,000
Thats £47,000 to recruit ONE bloke into the role of FD, on a salary pushing £100k, plus car and various benfits. This chap started in his new job last Monday. And what happens when they want ideas on reducing costs ? Well, instead of utilising these massively expensive penpushers they employ to make the decisions and bring in the ideas, instead they fall back on bringing in outside "financial consultants" on even huger contracts to supposedly put things right.
This is only a single example remember. We have retained business with NHS Trusts the length and breadth of the country, and at a guesstimate, the billing has easily surpassed £2 million this year alone.
The NHS is simply haemorrhaging money on a massive, MASSIVE scale, and until someone gets a grip on this ludicrous expenditure, its only going to get worse.
Mike, Sussex says...
3:16pm Thu 21 Jun 07
Down with MP's, Third world UK says...
8:34pm Thu 21 Jun 07
£480 million to pakistan & £400 million to India.......WHY
this is enough money to keep our Hospitals open. Charity begins at home and not in some far flung lands,
more aid to this country.
Dave, Saltdean says...
5:53am Fri 22 Jun 07
The delays when Brighton is gridlocked will be fatal.
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Worthing Hospital's A&E could disappear
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terry martin, handcross says...
10:32am Thu 21 Jun 07