Greg's NHS fears

Bexhill's MP is worried that the Government will press ahead with its plans to force accident and emergency departments to serve an area covering at least 450,000 people.

Currently, A&E's typically serve an area of under 250,000 people, but NHS organisations are pressing ahead with plans to close some of these down under guidance from the Director of Emergency Care at the Department for Health.

This could mean the South East's 16 departments being cut to nine.

Mr Barker said: "As users of the Conquest and the Eastbourne DGH will know, access to Accident and Emergency services is a vital component of the quality of the NHS.

"There is no clinical evidence which would justify shutting down A&E departments simply because they don't serve a catchment population in excess of 450,000 yet Labour are now seeking to justify closures on these grounds.

"On top of the proposed cuts to maternity care at our hospitals, these closures are being driven by Gordon Brown's NHS financial deficits.

"We have been given local assurances about A&E at the Conquest and Eastbourne DGH but against this national picture one has to ask is there a bigger agenda here we don't know about?"