Protest against hospital cuts
CAMPAIGNERS fighting to stop key services being downgraded from the DGH will be protesting outside the Congress Suite, next to the Congress Theatre, this coming Saturday – and they want you to join them.
East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust is holding a consultation at the venue on July 28 over controversial plans to centralise services like stroke care, general surgery and orthopaedics either in Eastbourne or Hastings’ Conquest. The consultation event runs from 10.30am until 1pm and Liz Walke and her determined band of Save the DGH campaigners are hoping use the occasion to ramp up their campaign efforts. They are planning a mass protest outside the Congress Suite between 10am and 11am and are hoping as many Herald readers as possible will join them.
A defiant Ms Walke said, “We would like as many people as possible to stand with us to fight against any proposals to downgrade our core, essential services at the DGH.
“These services which are essential in an emergency and where minutes matter should not be removed. It is no use having to travel for better treatment if you don’t get there in time or you are in a much more serious condition due to delay in treatment. It is no excuse to say that you will be seen sooner 20 miles away when by proper organisation of hospital services, you can be seen an hour earlier.
“Babies don’t wait, strokes need urgent scans, heart attacks need urgent treatment and quick diagnosis and treatment is crucial in the shortest possible time.
“Minutes matter in an emergency and these services must not be downgraded or removed from our local hospital. We do not want a community or cottage hospital in Eastbourne. We want a thriving general hospital which treats 95 per cent of its population with the balance which will need specialist treatment at a specialist hospital not a DGH. Please join us at 10am on the July 28. Together we will fight this.”
The Herald has already backed the Save the DGH campaign and we want to hear from readers about what they think of the plans? Email eastbourne.herald@trbeckett.co.uk.
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Weather for Eastbourne
Friday 24 May 2013
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