Simon says - FIT FOR THE FUTURE IS A PIGS EAR!

4.25.57pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 27th Jun 2007

Cllr. Simon McDougall - Leader of the Liberal Democrats on Arun District Council

Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Arun District Council, Simon McDougall has slammed the preferred options released by the West Sussex Primary care trust. Commenting on the proposals Mr McDougall who is also the Parliamentary spokesman for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton said;-

"These proposals are unworkable in practice and a proverbial pig's ear that no self respecting pig will sign up to. After a year of considering the views of local residents the PCT have come up with the very same proposals that were predicted a year ago. It is clear to me that these proposals are primarily about saving money than they are about improving NHS services for the future".

The 3 options for consultation released last week retain only one major general hospital for West Sussex at either St Richards or Worthing, with the loser being downgraded to a local hospital, without A&E. At present no information on financial or service provision that backs up these proposals is available to the general public.

Cllr McDougall went on to say

"The views of local residents are clear that they wish to see both St Richards and Worthing retained with improved local services at their community hospitals to take the pressure off of A&E departments. With no guarantee that Littlehampton hospital will be rebuilt and a growing elderly population in Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Worthing the whole situation is unworkable. There are no statistics available to scrutinise the rationale behind these options. The PCT have failed the residents of West Sussex by not even looking at their preferred option and costing it for consultation purposes. When you add to this the pressure from government to build more houses in the South East the whole service provision becomes unsustainable".