Nicholas Soames, Member of Parliament for Mid Sussex, and his fellow Parliamentary colleagues in West Sussex and Surrey held an urgent meeting yesterday at the House of Commons with the Chief Executive and Chairman of the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority to discuss the continuing funding crisis in the local health care economy.

Opening the meeting Mr Soames said; “There has never been more widespread concern over the financial crisis in the local healthcare economy. The Surrey and Sussex SHA need to be frank with people; we need to know the Government’s agenda and what is achievable. You need to make these matters easier to understand.

“The Surrey and Sussex SHA is demanding savings at the

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust that they simply cannot make particularly in view of the demand forecast for the region.”

Simon Robbins, Chief Executive of the SSSHA warned that the Trust must reduce its costs or it will not survive in the new NHS cost structure. He also underlined that that efficiency of the Trust is undermined by the location of services across a number of sites in Brighton.

Mr Soames said; “There is diminishing confidence in the management of the NHS locally. No one listened to the results of the Best Care, Best Place consultation. You need to be cautious in the steps that you take – peoples’ confidence does matter. Against this backdrop there is further anxiety as we enter another potential consultation fiasco over the Government’s proposals to merge PCTs; SHAs and Ambulance Trusts. This is regionalisation through the backdoor. Informed responses must be treated with more respect.”

Commenting on the meeting Mr Soames said; “The meeting was constructive in opening up the dialogue between my colleagues and the SHA. We concluded the meeting by urging the SHA to accept that the time had come for an honest public debate about how we are going to tackle the issues. We believe that SHAs in the wider region should form a coalition to make the case that the current funding formula is faulty. We need leadership from the SHAs in making our case to Ministers.”

Notes:-

Attendees:-

Nicholas Soames (MP for Mid Sussex)

Crispin Blunt (MP for Reigate)

Nick Herbert (MP for Arundel and South Downs)

Peter Ainsworth (MP for Surrey East)

Tim Loughton (MP for Worthing East and Shoreham)

Peter Bottomley (MP for Worthing West)

Nick Gibb (MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton)

Francis Maude (MP for Horsham)

Andrew Tryie (MP for Chichester)

Simon Robbins – Chief Executive of the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority

Alisdair Cockburn – Acting Chairman

Angela Walker – Assistant Chief Executive