Crispin Blunt

Conservative Party | Reigate

Local Politicians Join In Call For Urgent Hospital Review

Four local MPs and the Leader of West Sussex County Council Henry Smith, who is the Parliamentary Candidate for Crawley, have today called on the chief executive of the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority to conduct an urgent review into the number of beds at the East Surrey hospital.

The local MPs (Peter Ainsworth, East Surrey; Sir Paul Beresford, Mole Valley; Crispin Blunt, Reigate and Francis Maude, Horsham) and Henry Smith have stated:

“It is our view that there are simply not enough acute beds to service the population. Taking into account the fact that NHS guidelines are for 85% occupancy, and that forward planning must be applied to address the relentless rise of 10% additional admissions to A&E each year, one could argue that East Surrey Hospital needs six new 28-bedded wards at once, with more to follow.

We request that you carry out an immediate and urgent review of the balance of acute bed provision for the communities served by the Surrey and Sussex NHS Healthcare trust. We further request that the accumulated deficit is written off in its entirety as we do not believe that it would be possible for the Trust to begin to address its current operating deficit if this financial millstone is carried through into next year. We understand that this has already happened in mid-Yorkshire.

As £20 million of the deficit is due to the delay in the reorganisation of the Crawley and East Surrey hospitals after a moratorium was imposed by government ministers the case for support for this from central funds is overwhelming.” 

They further warned against making hospital staff redundant to deal with the financial crisis. In their view this would only make a critical situation worse.

“Central government targets and disgraceful party political manipulation and meddling by the current MP for Crawley have helped bring this crisis about. They should now find the funding to put right the mess that they have created.”

A copy of their letter to Simon Robbins is attached.

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Simon Robbins
Chief Executive
Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority
York House
18-20 Massetts Road
Horley
Surrey  RH6 7DE                                                    

16th March 2005             

Review of the number of acute care beds in the area served by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and its financial deficit

You will be more than aware of the crisis in healthcare provision in the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority area and in particular in the area served by the Surrey and Sussex NHS Healthcare trust. It appears clear that there is something very wrong in the overall balance of healthcare provision, both from the briefings we have received and from the evidence of the experiences passed on to us by our constituents.

Since it was formed in 1998 the acute trust has stumbled from financial crisis to financial crisis. The briefing, from the newly appointed temporary chairman and chief executive, delivered last week to Andrew Lansley MP (the Shadow Secretary of State for Health) and Crispin Blunt MP was all too familiar. The analysis of the problem remains the same. It seems the management’s immediate response will focus on operational efficiency, such as the high cost of so many agency staff. However, it is difficult to see how the capital asset (i.e. the acute care beds) can be made to work more efficiently when the bed occupancy rate is around 98% or more without a fundamental change to the NHS working week.

We have received accounts of patients being discharged early and of junior clinical staff being put under pressure to discharge patients by managers who are not senior clinicians. It is clear that the hospital is operating in a permanent state of emergency.

It is our view that there are simply not enough acute beds to service the population. Taking into account the fact that NHS guidelines are for 85% occupancy, and that forward planning must be applied to address the relentless rise of 10% additional admissions to A&E each year, one could argue that East Surrey Hospital needs six new 28-bedded wards at once, with more to follow.

We request that you carry out an immediate and urgent review of the balance of acute bed provision for the communities served by the Surrey and Sussex NHS Healthcare trust. We further request that the accumulated deficit is written off in its entirety as we

do not believe that it would be possible for the Trust to begin to address its current operating deficit if this financial millstone is carried through into next year. We understand that this has already happened in mid-Yorkshire.

As £20 million of the deficit is due to the delay in the reorganisation  of the Crawley and East Surrey hospitals after a moratorium was imposed by government ministers the case for support for this from central funds is overwhelming. 

There are rumours circulating that significant job losses are being contemplated in order to meet the imbalance between income and expenditure, which we understand amounts to a 20% overspend. Operational efficiencies can always be found, however it is not credible to contend that a district general hospital can be wholly or even largely responsible for its financial embarrassment when running at full tilt within the current organisational framework. We are impressed by the way all the staff at the hospital continue to deliver any form of service to our constituents. To inflict large-scale redundancies on the hospital while it remains in crisis would be disastrous. We hope you can reassure us on this point.

You have so far declined a request for an early meeting with Peter Ainsworth MP and Crispin Blunt MP. Considering the gravity of the current situation we ask that you should confirm that the issues raised here are addressed immediately.

Yours sincerely

Crispin Blunt MP

Cc: Peter Ainsworth MP                         
Sir Paul Beresford MP
Crispin Blunt MP                               
Francis Maude MP
Henry Smith, Leader West Sussex County Council