‘We decide hospital’s future’

The possible closure of maternity services and casualty wards across Sussex were being driven by the financial crisis in the NHS, said campaigners. Ros Tappenden and Ruth Lumley joined marches in Haywards Heath and Brighton.

A crowd of 5,000, including MPs, councillors, medical professionals and patients, marched from Clair Park to Victoria Park in Haywards Heath on Saturday in protest against plans to downgrade services at the Princess Royal Hospital.

The demonstration coincided with a smaller march in Brighton and followed recent rallies in Worthing and Hastings.

Organisers said they were amazed by the turnout as residents gathered to voice their concerns about NHS cuts.

Unions and other campaign groups fear hospitals could be closed or downgraded because of financial cuts.

Geoff Martin, head of campaigns at pressure group Health Emergency, said: "The planned axing of front line services has nothing to do with a rational planning process and everything to do with hacking back the NHS budget.

"Further demonstrations are planned up and down the country over the coming weeks and as it becomes clearer where the cuts targets are, we will be turning up the heat.

"We've warned before that the anger at NHS cuts could become New Labour's poll tax and the Government would be well advised to back off on the closure programme or risk electoral meltdown."

People started gathering in Haywards Heath at 9am, carrying posters and wearing T-shirts showing support for threatened maternity and casualty services.

Within an hour, thousands of supporters had gathered and were led up Perrymount Road by a lone piper, through the centre of town and into Victoria Park.

The Burgess Hill Marching Youth Band led the parade, followed by Lewes MP Norman Baker, Arundel and South Downs MP Nick Herbert, Wealden MP Charles Hendry and Nicholas Soames, the MP for Mid Sussex.

The cross-party delegation was also joined by Patrick Shanahan, leader of Mid Sussex District Council, and Mid Sussex district and Haywards Heath town councillor Paddy Henry.

Many supporters told stories of how the Princess Royal Hospital had saved their lives.

Mike Nightingale, of Haywards Heath, joined the protest with his children James, four, and Katie, two.

He said: "My father-in-law was involved in a head-on collision in Ansty two years ago.

He was taken to the accident and emergency unit at the Princess Royal and eventually transferred to Brighton. If the accident and emergency here was shut, he wouldn't have got treatment in time. He is only living today because of the prompt action of the Princess Royal in getting him stabilised."

Jayne Hards, of Hurstpierpoint, marched with her daughter Jenny and friend Terri Cave.

She said: "I have just been in hospital for a month and was in intensive care. Being nearby it was easier for my daughter to come to visit me. My lungs collapsed as a result of asthma so I may not have got to the care I needed if I had to travel further."

Gillian Grimes, of Haywards Heath, told of how she rushed her neighbour to hospital when she began to give birth.

She said: "I brought my next door neighbour to the Princess Royal when she went into labour. If I hadn't got her there in time she would have had the baby in my car. I use the hospital a lot too. I have just been diagnosed with an illness so it is very important to me that it stays as it is."

Senseless Other protesters expressed fears over how the region would cope with a terrorist attack or disaster at Gatwick Airport if accident and emergency services were scrapped.

Marion Drake, of Bolney, said: "They have already closed the accident and emergency in Crawley. If they close the one at Haywards Heath we will have to go between Redhill and Brighton. It's just senseless."

Supporters continued pouring into Victoria Park more than 50 minutes after the procession began.

Among the speakers was Forces sweetheart Dame Vera Lynn, who lives in Ditchling.

She said: "This isn't the first time we have had to fight to keep this hospital open. This threat to this wonderful hospital mustn't keep happening. It is absolutely ridiculous."

Mr Baker told the crowd: "Our hospital belongs to us. It does not belong to anonymous figures in anonymous rooms making plans for our future without involving us or telling us what they're doing. We are the people who will decide the future of our hospital, not those people in those offices."

Mike Lovell, a surgeon who used to work at the Princess Royal, said: "I wouldn't mind so much if they downgraded services at the Princess Royal if they had a brand new shiny hospital in Brighton to go to but the hospital there is bursting at the seams.

"The buildings are old, there is nowhere to park and the communications in a place like that are very poor. Sending patients to bigger hospitals doesn't necessarily mean they get better treatment."

Throughout the speeches there were angry outbursts from the crowd.

As Coun Shanahan spoke, protesters began to chant "Brown out".

He urged supporters of the hospital to march on Parliament and roused the audience to chant "Hands off the PRH".

Coun Henry took the stand to an appreciative cheer.

Wearing a white campaign T-shirt, he told the rally: "There has been 20 years of gross mismanagement of health services across West Sussex that has led to £100 million of debts and we have seen administrators come and go.

"They have butchered health services here. The way they seek to balance the books is to destroy the health services not just here but in the whole of Sussex."

Mr Hendry said: "We live in the fifth wealthiest country in the world and this part of the country pays more in taxes than anywhere else so why are we seeing health services cut back?

"This part of the country is under more pressure than anywhere else for new housing, so why aren't we seeing any investment in our health infrastructure rather than seeing it dismantled?

"We have to send the clearest message to ministers to tell them what an integral part of the health community this is. This is a fight that we are absolutely determined to win."

Costly Mr Herbert gave the final speech of the day.

He said: "We are told we are in this position because of the deficits, which are our fault.

"What about the endless time-consuming and costly reorganisations the NHS has been put through locally over the last few years?

These reorganisations are good for one group of people and one group only - the management consultants who we are paying millions of pounds, easily outstripping the deficits that we are being told we have to get rid of in just a few months.

"The Government likes to talk about joined-up thinking but it is not very joined up to tell us we have to have 58,000 new houses in Sussex over the next two decades and then downgrade the hospital provision for those new homes or to talk about a second new runway at Gatwick or talk about the terrorist threat and then take away one of the hospitals that would have to deal with an emergency should it arise."

About 150 people took part in the Brighton march from The Level to the Royal Sussex County Hospital.

The crowd gathered at noon to protest against the cuts in services proposed to pay off hospital trust's debts of more than £100 million.

Traffic came to a standstill as the campaigners were escorted by the police from The Level up Trafalgar Street and along Queen's Road to North Road before continuing to the hospital.

Phil Clarke, 24, a teacher and chairman of Brighton Keep Our NHS Public, said: "We need to publicise that 500 jobs and a 109 beds are going to be cut.

"We have been in Eastbourne, Worthing, Shoreham, Hastings and Chichester but what we need is to join everybody together and have a regional campaign.

"If services are cut at one hospital it will impact on all the others."

Sue Power, 49, from Brighton, handed out copies of an open letter for people to send to Prime Minister Tony Blair. She has been a patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital and the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath for the past 14 years.

She said: "I am a frequent patient of the NHS and I have received excellent patient care. I am really worried about what is going to happen.

"The staff at the hospitals are amazing and I would shower them in diamonds if I could.

What they do is incredible."

Mother-of-two Sue Downey, 43, from Brighton, said she could have died during childbirth if she had not received life-saving treatment from Worthing Hospital.

She said: "Both of my children were born in Worthing and I had fantastic treatment there.

"During my second birth they saved my life. I had a massive haemorrhage and if they had had to send me to the Royal Sussex I might not have made it. I was also given great breast feeding and post-natal support."

Physiotherapists Deirdre McGuinness, 40, and Liz Billam, 38, who both live in Brighton, said they feared for their jobs and the care of patients if the cuts were made.

Ms McGuinness said: "We get to see firsthand what is happening with the services and what is happening at the orthopaedic unit in Haywards Heath.

"Operations are going out to private tender but it does not mean to say it is better. We do a lot of in-house training and in the private sector people will not get that. In the longterm these cuts will be worse for the health service."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "The White Paper Our Health, Our Care, Our Say set out plans to shift some services into the community to ensure faster, better and more convenient access for patients.

"This followed the biggest public engagement exercise ever and the plans are based on what the public told us they want from local health services.

"This does not mean wholesale closures of district general hospitals but it does mean clinicians and managers need to work with communities to decide on the best organisation of services for patients in their areas.

"Any decision on significant changes to services will only be made after full public consultation with local people.

"The independent NHS Employers organisation confirmed this week that most trusts are not planning to make people redundant.

Where trusts have notified the Press or the public of the intention to make redundancies, the actual number invariably has turned out to be much smaller than the original figure."