Support the Princess Royal Hospital




Home >> Campaign news >> The threat to the PRH >> Have your say >> What the clinicians say >> Forthcoming events >> Past events >> Send us your stories >> Online petition >> Printable petition >> Photo gallery >> Supporters >> Contact us >>	Update to campaign supporters 16 April 2008 Campaigners have published the following update for campaign supporters: ======================================================================= Dear Campaign Supporter Thank you for your continued support for the campaign to protect the Princess Royal Hospital from the downgrading being proposed by the Primary Care Trust. The public consultation period closed at the end of last year, and the campaign’s formal response can be read here. In the response, the campaign highlights: The missed opportunity to build on the strengths of the PRH The strategic importance of the PRH in central Sussex The clinical case against the proposals Failings in the consultation process A viable alternative option for the PRH’s future Following the close of the consultation, the PCT has confirmed that over 326,000 people responded to the consultation in West Sussex showing the strength of local support for hospital services. Forthcoming decisions The Primary Care Trust are currently undertaking further background work and assessment of options before a final decision is made. They have identified three ‘service models’ based upon two of the original options consulted on, plus a new option, partially based upon proposals submitted by the campaign and others. It is expected that on 7^th May, the PCT Board will decide which ‘service model’ to adopt and on 4^th June will decide the exact locations for services such as the Major General Hospital and midwife-led maternity units. Light at the end of the tunnel for Accident & Emergency services Although no final decisions have been made, the PCT’s new ‘service model 3’ would retain Accident & Emergency services, unselected acute medical admissions and intensive care services. If this option was supported by the PCT Board, A&E services would be retained at the Princess Royal Hospital. Campaigners are hopeful the PCT Board will support the retention of A&E services after this ‘service model’ was backed by significant numbers of local clinicians. Serious concerns remain about maternity services However, major concerns remain about the future of maternity services at the PRH. None of the PCT’s service models would result in the retention of consultant-led maternity services at the PRH. The campaign have published evidence which shows that the PRH should be the natural choice for mothers-to-be across large parts of central Sussex because of favourable journey times, and have launched a publicity drive to encourage more mothers to use the services. The PCT are also considering whether to replace a consultant-led unit with a midwife-led unit which could deliver around 300-500 ‘low risk’ births per year. However, this unit could be located at either the PRH or Crawley and would only carry a small proportion of the 2,400 births per year at the PRH today.