VIDEO: Future of St Richard's A&E looks good but maternity in doubt

Officials have agreed to formally consider fresh proposals to keep A&E at all three hospitals in West Sussex, including St Richard's, after receiving an independent report from the president of the General Medical Council, Professor Graeme Catto.

But his recommendation also included a plan to centralise consultant-led maternity and children's services at either Chichester or Worthing, with only a midwife-led unit at the opposing hospital unable to handle 'high risk' deliveries.

Watch the video clip to see Professor Catto talking about his recommendations.

"We have reached a milestone but we are not quite at the point of making a decision," chief executive of the West Sussex Primary Care Trust, John Wilderspin, said.

Professor Catto delivered his report to the PCT's board yesterday after reviewing its plans to shake-up health services in West Sussex, with either St Richard's Hospital or Worthing Hospital downgraded to a Local General Hospital (LGH) with limited services.

The Princess Royal in Hayward's Heath is also set to be downgraded.

He also examined alternative plans submitted to the PCT, including the proposal by the county's clinicians to retain A&E at Chichester, Worthing and Haywards Heath, thanks to the creation of two LGH 'plus' hospitals.

More specialised services such as emergency surgery and inpatient children's services would still be centralised at the remaining Major General Hospital (MGH) - alongside maternity.

"The people who have spoken to me have always looked to the options very positively and want to see how services can improve," Professor Catto said.

But he explained that while all three hospitals could sustain and A&E, the population of West Sussex meant there could only be one consultant-led maternity unit in the county in the future.

This is due to new professional guidelines making a unit delivering less than 4,000 babies a year unsustainable as staff would not be using their full range of skills.

"You need that magic number," he said.

Although the board backed Professor Catto's recommendation to shortlist the two fresh options put forward by clinicians, it rejected his call to axe two of the original three downgrading options because of lack of public and clinical support.

Instead the board agreed to keep them on its shortlist, as well as add a previously rejected option to make Worthing the MGH and St Richard's and the Princess Royal LGHs.

The PCT will now examine the new options alongside the old options before making a final decision in the summer.

The options are:

* St Richard's MGH, Worthing LGH, Princess Royal LGH

* Worthing MGH, St Richard's LGH, Princess Royal, LGH

* St Richard's MGH, Worthing LGH, Princess Royal community hospital

* Worthing MGH, St Richard's LGH, Princess Royal community hospital

* St Richard's MGH, Worthing LGH plus, Princess Royal LGH plus

* Worthing MGH, St Richard's LGH plus, Princess Royal LGH plus

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