Littlehampton Hospital “delaying tactics” accusation

Dr James Walsh accused the NHS Sussex board of “stonewalling” and delaying tactics over the long-awaited decision, six years after the old hospital in Fitzalan Road was demolished, followed by the shelving of plans for a replacement days before work was due to start.

He was speaking after campaigners for the new hospital attended Tuesday’s meeting of the board at Goring, to lobby board members and ask further questions on the delayed scheme.

Dr Walsh criticised NHS Sussex for taking weeks to give written answers to questions asked by campaigners at the previous board meeting in December.

He said after Tuesday’s meeting: “The written answers to the questions posed at the December meeting were only e-mailed yesterday. This is a quite unacceptable delay, and I believe a deliberate tactic to draw out the process as long as possible.

“Even then, the answers avoided many of the questions – such as ‘Have you ever had a valuation done to determine how much the Fitzalan Road site is worth?’ Answer: ‘We have not had a recent formal valuation.’

“The questions asked today were not given full or proper answers, but consisted of stonewalling, and a continual shifting of the timescales. Last autumn we were promised a board decision in December. In December we were told that it had been moved to February, and today we were told that the timetable would be announced in March!

“NHS Sussex is losing what credibility it has over this matter by constantly missing deadlines and delaying tactics. In my view, it is time that this was taken out of the time- and money-wasting hands of NHS Sussex, and referred to the health secretary for a decision, influenced by our local MP.

“The people have spoken loud and clear on this issue. We have been betrayed for too long and we want our hospital rebuilt now, as promised six years ago”.

Dr Walsh, town mayor Alan Gammon and Gazette editor Roger Green asked the board a series of questions on the decision-making process.

Asked whether it would meet its deadline of making a decision by the end of March, the board gave the written reply: “We have given our commitment to resolving this as soon as possible and work is continuing at pace to reach a conclusion.

“We expect the high-level clinical strategy to be completed by the end of February, and the clinical infrastructure model to be completed by the end of March.

“We continue to work with local stakeholders, including local councillors, GPs and patient representatives, and anticipate being able to make an informed decision by the end of the financial year (March 31).”