Hospital decision sent for review

NHS chiefs have said St Richard's Hospital will be downgraded

Plans to downgrade a West Sussex hospital as part of reorganisation of NHS services are to be referred to the Secretary of State for Health.

The County Council's health scrutiny committee said it was not convinced patients will benefit from the cuts to St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

West Sussex Primary Care Trust (PCT) announced in May that Worthing would be the county's major general hospital.

The PCT said choosing between the two hospitals was a difficult decision.

It wants just one hospital with full A&E services, paediatrics and consultant-led maternity care.

'Alternative solutions'

The decision means services will stay the same at the Princess Royal Hospital at Haywards Heath.

The future of St Richard's, Worthing and the Princess Royal had been the focus of major public campaigns for 18 months during the Fit for the Future consultation.

The health scrutiny committee decided to ask Alan Johnson to review the outcome following a meeting on Wednesday attended by NHS bosses.

"We weren't satisfied that they had fully explored all the alternative solutions for the retention of consultant-led maternity services at St Richards," said chairman Peter Griffiths.

He said it was also unclear what would happen to specialist services currently based at St Richard's, such as vascular surgery.