Holistic Doctor on Line

Death knoll for another maternity unit - Eastbourne Hospital

Hi there,

I have been fuming since the Thursday before Christmas.

I have been involved in the meetings to stop the Eastbourne District General Hospital losing its consultant-led maternity unit since 2004. I have seen hours of discussion, managers doing background fact finding, a public consultation day, and an options appraisal assessment that concluded (after input from all walks of life, midwives, consultants, GPs, patients) that both consultant - led units should remain. Yet that has been ignored.

Only the managers and the consultant gynaecologists (with one notable exception) have supported this move to turn Eastbourne Consultant led unit into a midwife-led centre like Crowborough (which is very good). The GPs from Eastbourne and Hastings have been unanimous bar one in their support of the existing system.  The consultants feel that they will be able to attract better quality obs & gynae staff with a larger, single unit. We GPs are concerned that there will be lives lost en route to the unit. And, if Hastings currently has fewer births than Eastbourne, why make the single site at Hastings? Surely not because they have a labour MP....

Here is a link to the Save Eastbourne Hospital site - http://www.savethedgh.org.uk/

Also a quote from Vincent Argent, a Consultant Obstrician/Gynaecologist previously from Eastbourne:  "With the greatest of respect, none of these decision makers have been faced with a woman bleeding profusely or a baby not breathing in front of them.  I have!  It is stupid, crass and ignorant to suggest that time is unimportant.  In 10 years time, I expect CEMACH will be publishing concerns about the travel times to consultant units as happened back in the 70s and early 80s.  We will go full circle. Paediatrics and A & E may follow and then cardiology and other services. Sad times but only the local people and their political and medical ( GPs )  representatives have any chance of turning this around."

However, we GPs have done everything in OUR power to stop this decision.

Here is the link to the BBC News report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/7154013.stm

Sorry to bring bad news at the New Year.....

Anyway, I hope that you all have a peaceful, prosperous and fun New Year!

Love & light
Alison

PS here's a section of an Email I wrote to my doctor friend in Australia...

Jealousy

We have been very lucky in Sussex this time round. The lane in which I live was flooded for only one day, although Barcombe Mills, nearby, was more severely affected, as ever.

I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of the place in our lane where the stream comes up during flood periods and joins up with the lake on the other side of the road. The next day there was a caravan parked up on the verge here - little do they know what they were risking!