The League of Friends of Uckfield Community Hospital are very concerned and disappointed at the trial closure of the much – valued Day Surgery Unit within the hospital.
They have, over many months, been contacting the various local Health Authorities to try and establish the facts behind the reasons for the pilot closure. The answers have been difficult to understand.
The scheme involves transferring all the patients and staff to Eastbourne District General Hospital for a trial period of 6 months, rather than continuing to carry out the procedures at Uckfield. This change would incur extensive travelling for many of the patients and local staff.
For clarification the Day Surgery Unit performs many surgical procedures that can be done under a local anaesthetic such as biopsies and urgent removal of skin cancers. Local surgeons attend from DGH and QVH to perform these surgical lists. The appointments are made from a central booking office sited at DGH which assesses the incoming referrals and allocates which patients go to which hospital.
This is not the same department as that for Minor Injuries that continues to flourish as a ‘walk in department’ from 8am-8pm 7 days a week. This also relies on the busy X Ray and Ultrasound department within the hospital.
The DSU pilot closure period began in early December 2024 and is due for evaluation in early June 2025.
It is very important that local people should join with us and express their unrest at the possibility of a complete shut down of the Day Surgery Unit. Petitions are in place, on line, to show the strength of local feeling against this decision.
www.change.org (Scrap plans to close the Day Surgery Unit at Uckfield Community Hospital) There are 6,333 signatures – if you are not one of them then please sign up NOW!
Mims Davies MP has also put a lot of work into trying to reverse this decision and met with the NHS Sussex Board for Commissioning of hospital services. She has an on – line Uckfield Community Hospital survey running on her website that is also collecting signatures.
Mimsdavies.org.uk
She intends to use the information gathered to go back to the Commissioning board. She has also spoken in Parliament about the pilot closure and addressed Wes Streeting on our behalf.
There has recently been an announcement from the Health Minister outlining proposals for Neighbourhood Health Centres as per the successful system in Birmingham of the Washwood Heath clinic.
“Here, hospital doctors, GPs, nurses, occupational therapists, council social care teams, mental health professionals and charity staff work under one roof, as well as a diagnostic service (for MRI scans, X rays and ultrasounds), alongside mental health care and wider social support. The aim is to have a network of such Community Hubs with integrated neighbourhood teams.”
The article then goes on to say lack of NHS funds is preventing the expansion of the scheme at this time, together with the need for suitable buildings.
Uckfield Hospital used to be such a facility, a decade ago, and is still on our doorstep. The modern thinking is to use and expand Community services for patients and keep the pressure off the Acute Hospitals.
How can the possible closure of our much admired and long standing Day Surgery Unit fit into these visions for the future? It may be that procedures have developed and some now need to be performed at an Acute Centre but there are still many that could be done locally in our Day Unit. With the increase in house building in our locality there will be even more patients needing to travel unnecessarily to Eastbourne with little public transport and expensive parking.
We understand that the promised evaluation of the 6month pilot in June will be made public by ESHT (Eastbourne Hospital TRUST) and presumably their final decision on the Uckfield DSU closure.
Time is running out so as a local community we must do all we can to speak up and divert any negative decisions.
Uckfield Community Hospital should be able to live up to its’ name and be used as the amazing facility it was and be part of the forward thinking. Having its services diminished cannot be part of that plan. Please do all you can to make your feelings known and help it to flourish and continue as a vital local service we have been so fortunate to have had in our vicinity since 1993.