Norman Baker MP Member of Parliament for Lewes constituency
|Home
Contact Norman at:
Norman Baker,
23 East Street,
Lewes,
East Sussex,
BN7 2LJ.
Tel: (01273) 480281.
Fax: (01273) 480287.
Email: info
This website has been partly paid for from the funds made available to every MP to assist them in communicating with and representing their constituents.
Printed and hosted by Pipex Communications UK Ltd, Humber Buildings, Humber Rd, Beeston, Notts, NG9 2ET. Published and promoted by Norman Baker MP, House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 1AA. The views expressed are those of Norman Baker, not of the service provider.
MP Demands Answers On DGH Crisis
Local MP Norman Baker has demanded an urgent meeting with the management at the Eastbourne DGH, following the news that bed occupancy is running at 97%, and that emergency admissions to the A&E department may have to be redirected to Hastings or Brighton.
The MP, whose constituents in Polegate, Seaford and Alfriston look to the DGH for their hospital care, says: "The local media has done a public service by making public the situation at the hospital. I am very surprised that the hospital management has not seen fit to brief local MPs on the position, and try to bring partners together to see what can be done to help. I do hope that they are not trying to bury their head in the sand.
"To my mind, the suggestion that people could arrive at the A&E and be redirected to Hastings or Brighton makes this potentially a matter of life and death. Hastings is a long way if you're having a cardiac arrest.
"We need to identify very clearly why this situation has arisen and take steps to remedy matters. I am sure that a lack of government funding for the south-east, and the cold winter snap have both played their parts, but if they were the only reasons, then we would be seeing similar crises at other hospitals, and we aren't. The purely local factors would appear to be the bed-blocking caused by the Conservative county council, and the capability of the DGH management.
"I feel sorry for the hard-working staff at the hospital who in recent years have had to endure the hospital lurching from one crisis to another. I feel concerned for my constituents who have the right to expect a guaranteed level of service, one that seems to be absent at the moment."
"It worries me both that this crisis has arisen, and that the management appear to be burying it. It should not be up to the local paper to bring all this out.