LETTER: NHS forums being set up

The recent winter crises in the NHS has seen our health services stretched beyond their ability to cope, with widespread reporting of patients dying in hospital corridors in '˜intolerable' conditions, people being left for hours on trolleys in corridors and stuck in ambulances and a letter issued to the prime minister signed by 68 senior A&E doctors, spelling out the danger patients have faced this winter.

Last week, there was a point when 133 out of 137 hospital trusts in England had an unsafe number of patients on their wards.

The causes are simple – a continual squeeze on NHS funding according to analysts at the Health Foundation and the King’s Fund. Now we are about to see further cuts of hundreds of millions of pounds in Sussex and Surrey alone. The UK has already fallen significantly behind many other European countries in terms of health funding; the UK is now 13th out of the original 15 EU members in terms of investment. Our NHS simply cannot cope with any further cuts.

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In response to this, local Labour Party branches across the region are setting up NHS forums where people can come and discuss how they can help to stop the damage to our NHS. We have a local group in Worthing and Shoreham and are already meeting regularly to develop ways in which the public can be involved in protecting properly funded services locally. If you are interested in finding out more or taking part then please contact us on [email protected]

Margaret Howard

Labour candidate,

Broadwater ward,

Lavington Road, Worthing

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