MP takes the DGH fight to Parliament
Eastbourne MP Stephen Lloyd will debate the future of the DGH in Parliament next month.
On February 7 he will join a cross-party debate on the controversial proposals to cut services at the DGH and move them to the Conquest Hospital in Hastings.
East Sussex Hospitals Trust, the NHS organisation which runs both hospitals, has insisted the changes will improve the standard of care for people living in Eastbourne.
Mr Lloyd will join forces with Conservative and Labour MPs who are facing controversial changes in their own constituencies
Mr Lloyd told the Herald, “My first priority is again publicising the issues we have encountered locally with ESHT pushing ahead with proposals to downgrade core services at the DGH, to add further pressure to the government to intervene.
“My other priority will be to help other MPs who have found themselves in a similar situation to the one we have encountered in Eastbourne.”
“I will be asking questions of the Department for Health, in public, about the decision to press ahead to downgrade services at the DGH, in spite of overwhelming opposition from the public, DGH consultants and local GPs, despite the government’s continued assurances changes to health services should be led by the public and clinicians.”
The three-hour debate in the House of Commons is expected to attract a large number of MPs from all the main political parties.
In defence of the proposals a spokesperson for ESHT said, “We firmly believe our proposals will enable us to provide better quality care to the population of East Sussex as a whole for years to come.
“They will deliver better results for patients, better access to expert clinicians and better recovery rates.
“We also believe they help us to maintain two thriving major hospitals in Eastbourne and in Hastings.”
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Weather for Eastbourne
Monday 20 May 2013
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