Trust statement boosts hope for hospital rebuild

In the statement, addressed to Arun District Council and Littlehampton Town Council and issued on Tuesday afternoon, Mr Wilderspin said the PCT "understands" the disappointment at the delay in a decision and assured the councillors that the emphasis will be on "locally-based facilities".

However, he adds that the hospital's future will not be decided until after the Fit For the Future consultation on major NHS reorganisation across West Sussex. The Gazette understands that this does not even mention the Arun Community Hospital, which was put on hold days before building work was due to start in March, 2006.

Arun's leader Gill Brown was "encouraged" by Mr Wilderspin's comments, which she took to be a "confirmation by the PCT that there will be a community hospital in Littlehampton".

She said: "Providing this hospital is of the utmost importance to our residents and the council will continue to fight to ensure that the promise of the PCT is delivered and that this new hospital has the maximum range of facilities within it.

"I look forward to meeting with Mr Wilderspin and the team at the PCT to pursue this further and come up with more concrete plans about how and when the PCT proposes to deliver the health facilities that our residents need and deserve."

In his statement, Mr Wilderspin said: "The PCT understands your disappointment at the delay in finalising plans for the Arun Community Hospital.

"As we explained, we need to understand in full the impact of the Fit for the Future consultation process on the configuration of the major local hospitals before we can finalise plans for community hospital facilities. If we did not do this, we would risk pre-empting the outcome of the consultation.

"That said, I can assure you that the PCT is committed to ensuring that the people of Arun and Littlehampton have excellent local health facilities to meet their care needs as effectively and safely as possible, both now and in the future.

"Housing and population growth have been taken into account in the wider Fit for the Future proposals, since we need to ensure that primary care and community services can support projected increases in the local population.

"Locally-based facilities will need to include access to outpatient clinics, community services, diagnostics and minor injury services, as well as good primary care services. The population will also need access to intermediate care and rehabilitation beds.

"The location of these beds has yet to be considered in relation to plans for the major general hospital and the local general hospital, as set out in Fit for the Future, and so we cannot yet finalise the total number of beds required nor where exactly they should be located."

Littlehampton town and district councillor Mark Butler said: "While I am delighted with what I see as commitment from the PCT about the future of a community hospital for Littlehampton, I am still cautious as to the number of beds which may be contained within it, as indicated by Mr Wilderspin.

"I still stand by previous statements that the hospital was promised as a full-bedded community hospital and, with our increasing population, I remain committed to pushing for the proposal that the PCT gave us 18

months ago."

A public meeting of the Joint Eastern Arun Area Committee will debate the hospital issue next Tuesday, August 7, in Littlehampton Community School's Hill Road Hall from 6-8pm, when PCT representatives will outline their proposals and answer questions on them. People will also be given the opportunity to voice their concerns.