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Home >> Baby book of savings >> 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 >>	Case for downgrading PRH undermined by Eastbourne maternity decision 8 September 2008 Campaigners fighting plans to remove consultant-led maternity services from the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath have welcomed the decision by the NHS Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to throw out similar plans which would have resulted in the closure of consultant-led maternity services at Eastbourne Hospital. Like the Primary Care Trust’s decision about Eastbourne Hospital, the PCT’s proposals for the PRH have been referred to the Secretary of State for Health for further consideration and the Independent Reconfiguration Panel will shortly begin work assessing the PCT’s case. Campaigners believe the decision to downgrade the PRH should also be thrown out after the panel said: The proposals to downgrade Eastbourne have not made a clear case for safer and more sustainable services and that accessibility is reduced They accept the concerns that there is an “unquantifiable” risk of incidents during the transfer/transport of women during labour The NHS Trust’s assumptions of future staffing provision, partly behind the proposals, were “over-generous” and that alternative staffing models could deliver a safe and sustainable service The PCT had not given due weight to accessibility and that the reconfigured services would result in a real reduction in accessibility compared with current service provision They were not convinced by arguments that there would be improvements in safety that could only be achieved through reconfiguration Following the announcement, Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames said: “The basis for downgrading Eastbourne’s consultant-led maternity unit was extremely similar to the reasons given for the Princess Royal Hospital and it is encouraging for the PRH that those reasons have now been judged to be entirely unsound. Whenever proposals for downgrading hospitals in Sussex have come under detailed scrutiny, they have fallen apart, and the campaign calls on the Independent Panel to come down on the side of Mid Sussex residents when they consider the proposals for the PRH”