Readers of the Middy will be as outraged as I am by the news of the new threat to local health services at our magnificent Princess Royal Hospital which has recently received a good deal of coverage. So alarmed was I by this news that I immediately sought a meeting with the Chief Executive of the new Primary Care Trust and other senior NHS Executives that duly took place on Monday 14th August at Haywards Heath.

I was accompanied to this meeting by the Leader of Mid Sussex District Council, Councillor Patrick Shanahan and the Deputy Leader, Councillor Gordon Marples. We pointed out to the Managers that local people in Mid Sussex had every expectation of believing that the future of the NHS services at the Princess Royal Hospital was settled following the work on Best Care, Best Place proposals.

It was a moment when local people came together to express their support for their Hospital and as recently as the 25th May, at a public meeting I chaired on the health service at the Martlets in Burgess Hill, no indication was given of the sort of problems that have now materialised. We are entitled to feel very let down.

I have told the PCT Managers that Mid Sussex has three major lines in the sand. Firstly, the maintenance of our blue light A&E; secondly, proper maternity services as agreed in Best Care, Best Place and thirdly, the full range of local services required by a growing community whose local health infrastructure is already under considerable pressure.

We now have to start campaigning with all the resources at our command, and my Parliamentary colleague, Nick Herbert, the MP for Arundel and South Downs and I will be running an energetic campaign in conjunction with all the other MPs whose constituencies are affected by this consultation which stretches across the whole of West Sussex.

We have a very good case to make and I urge Middy readers to attend the PCT’s meeting on the 13th September at 1800 at Clair Hall in Haywards Heath where some of these ideas will be explained and there will be an opportunity for open debate.

I understand that the consultation paper will be published in October and I can only say that we shall ensure that this matter is called in by the Secretary of State for Health and that we will mount a really vigorous campaign in Parliament and locally to support our greatly valued Princess Royal Hospital.

On a slightly lighter note, in order to compensate for the carbon emissions generated from work I do in the community, I have donated 18 trees to the local people of Burgess Hill, East Grinstead and Haywards Heath via the Town Councils.

It has been interesting to work out my carbon footprint, and it is certainly a lesson that we can all do things locally that are helpful to the environment and also make a useful contribution to open spaces.

September and October promise to be extremely busy but I hope those of you who have been on holiday, despite the difficulties of travel, have had a wonderful break. Didn’t our Security Services and the Police do well?