THIS evening Caroline Lucas will lay bare the healthcare crisis Sussex is facing.

The NHS is facing troubled times across the country, but perhaps nowhere else more so than in Sussex.

The Argus has been dominated by health stories over recent months - and very few of them have been promising.

Our hospital trusts are in special measures - not only because of the care they provide but for the financial mess they are in.

Our ambulance service has also been placed in special measures - just months after the 11 debacle.

At the same time there is a shortage of GPs with surgeries closing across the county.

And then there is Coperforma, which becomes more farcical with each passing week.

Our investigating in the patient transport service last week revealed that one sub-contractor may not even have been licensed to operate a fleet of 30 ambulances.

As Caroline Lucas will tell MPs in the House of Commons this evening, action from the Government in needed and it is needed soon.

Winter is fast approaching and if we have learnt anything from recent years it is that when the temperatures plummet, the problems grow.

The NHS is full of skilled, dedicated and hardworking individuals doing their very best for us, the public.

But without the financial backing, there is only so much they can do.

Caroline Lucas has done her job by taking this issue to the House of Commons.

Now Government ministers must do theirs and sort out this sorry mess.