The commission placed each trust in England into a band based upon the number of ‘Risks’ and ‘Elevated Risks’ identified in the report. East Sussex Healthcare was placed in ‘Band 2’ marking the trust as ‘High Risk’ overall, placing it amongst the worst in the country. Highlighted risks include the very concerning fact that users of the service are at danger of dying even when diagnosed with low risk conditions.

The current management of East Sussex Healthcare Trust is also responsible for the disastrous downgrading of services at Eastbourne DGH, a move that has already had a negative impact for many of Norman’s constituents in Seaford and Polegate.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust was placed in Band 3, putting it in the lower half of the scale but without highlighting the trust as high risk.

Norman says:

“This report shows what I sadly already knew; the upper management of East Sussex Healthcare is letting down my constituents across the board, both in terms of the range of services offered at Eastbourne and now the safety of what’s left. There needs to be changes at the top to reverse this dangerous trend and that means the replacement of the Chief Executive and Chairman.

 “I am very concerned that my constituents are being given a second rate services when it comes to healthcare.” 

Last year, despite vehement opposition, the Trust pushed through plans to ‘reconfigure services’ which resulted in EDGH losing emergency and high risk elective surgery and orthopaedics. Then despite the decision by a previous Health Secretary that the hospital should retain full maternity services, the management has cut maternity services and paediatrics by saying it is a “temporary move”, but the MP predicts there is nothing temporary about it and that it is a backdoor attempt by the management to push through the removal of maternity services for good.

Now, in a move that will raise concerns with local people who are served by the DGH, top doctors have slammed changes to the hospital.

In light of the escalating concerns about the decisions of the top management at the Trust, the MP is enlisting NHS England to thoroughly investigate the decisions made by the management at the Trust and has written to the Chair, Prof Malcolm Grant.

Norman says:

“Top level managers at the Trust have got to wake up and smell the coffee.  Local residents are up in arms about what they are doing to local health services, I and Stephen Lloyd have vocally opposed the actions that they are taking and now doctors at the EDGH have stated explicitly that the changes are ‘unsafe’.  The Chief Executive and the Chairman however just ooze complacency.  They seem to completely reject all opposition out of hand and just carry on regardless – decimating local health services.

“It is time for a full investigation to take place into the actions of the top management at the Trust.”

The Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, joined Norman at Lewes train station to announce the commissioning of a new study to be undertaken by Network Rail which will look at rail provision between London and the south coast.  As part of its terms of reference, it will specifically look at the case to reopen the Lewes/Uckfield line.  That in turn would allow an hourly direct train from Seaford to London.

The local MP has campaigned for the reopening of the Lewes/Uckfield line for two decades as it will ease the congestion on the Brighton mainline and could allow for more frequent services between Lewes and London, and direct services between Seaford and Newhaven to London.

Norman says:

“This has been two decades in the making so this week’s announcement by my colleague, the Secretary of State for Transport, that he is ‘alive to local interest in reopening the Lewes/Uckfield line’ and has commissioned a study is a huge step forward. 

“I have continued my campaign to get this line open because of the additional capacity that it will bring to the local rail network, including real possibility that direct services between Seaford and Newhaven to London could be restored.  The restoration of a direct service would be great news for the towns and certainly bring economic benefits.”

The group was set up by the town council in 2007 as part of a national scheme and since then they have planted around 200 trees in the town with the financial support of the town council and voluntary contributions.  The group works with local schools and with members of the community who assist in identifying suitable sites and having recently secured a grant from the government’s Big Tree Plant initiative, the group had planned to plant a further 200 trees over the next three years.

However, the future of the scheme could be in jeopardy as on the 21^st of March the council’s Community Services Committee is due to make a decision on whether to continue with the scheme, amongst concerns surrounding the ongoing maintenance of the trees and health and safety.

Following a meeting with a member of the group, Norman has written to the clerk of Seaford Town Council to acknowledge that there are ongoing issues that need to be ironed out, but the council should continue to support the general principle that tree planting has visual, environmental and community benefits and that full efforts should be made to try to retain the scheme.

Norman says:

“I certainly appreciate that the town council needs to look at this scheme in the context of the long-term and how, with East Sussex County Council, the trees will be maintained in the future.  However, I believe that the principle of the scheme and the benefits that tree planting can bring need to be supported.  I have written to the Clerk to urge the council to get behind the scheme and put its full effort into finding a way to ensure that the group can continue with its tree planting into the future.”

Seaford Head currently offers education for those aged between 11 and 16, but despite being the largest town in the Lewes constituency, with a population of some 25,000, Seaford has no sixth form college.  The Seaford Board of Trustees hoped to change all that by utilising the previously rented out Old School Annex and the government’s Free School funding, to provide post-16 education, and they have been successful.

The news has been welcomed by the Headteacher, Lynton Golds, and the local MP Norman Baker, who wrote to the Education Secretary to support the application, and the capital grant will now be used to progress post-16 education with the creation of a purpose built sixth form which will be equipped with state of the art facilities, such as ICT.  Work on planning and developing the site of the Seaford Head Annex will begin in January, ready for its opening in September 2014.

Norman says:

“Access to post-16 education is crucial to ensuring that students are able to develop beyond compulsory education and on to university.  There is a clear lack of post-16 education opportunities in Seaford so the decision by the government to provide substantial capital investment for a first class facility in Seaford is excellent news.”

Lynton says:

“More details will follow in the New Year, but this is very good news for the community of Seaford and for all the students living in the surrounding areas of Eastbourne, Lewes, Newhaven and Peacehaven.  I also want to take this opportunity to thank all those who have supported the school including Norman Baker, Helen Key, David Greaves, Jane Hanley, Margaret Cuttin and, last but not least, our Trustees and Governors.”

The MP is holding the Q&A to provide a convenient opportunity for Seaford residents to come and have a public chat with him about his experience within the coalition government, but also just to answer any questions that people have, be it regarding local issues or national ones.  It follows on from a successful event in Polegate, with other Q&As in Lewes and Newhaven to be held in due course.

Commenting Norman says:

“Town hall style Q&As are a great setting to have a chat about what the government is doing and I am hopeful that I am able to shed some light on the workings of the Coalition and particularly the work I am doing on transport.  Of course, I am acutely aware of the local issues that are of a particular interest to Seaford residents, such as the need for improved health facilities in the town, so hopefully this will prove a good opportunity to also have a chat about that as well.”

East Sussex Healthcare has released its consultation document “Shaping our Future” which outlines a number of options for changing local healthcare provisions.  The document focuses heavily on placing a number of important services at one site with a genuine possibility of the site being the Conquest in Hastings.  The consequence of such a change will mean that the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton will now become the closest hospital for residents of Seaford.  Residents of Polegate will, on the other hand, be forced to go to the Conquest, nearly ten miles further than Eastbourne, along the slow A259.

The consultation proposes to, amongst other things:

• Reduce emergency, orthopaedic and cancer surgery to just one site
• Centralise stroke care
• Reduce emergency care by only maintaining a trauma unit at one site

Contributing to the consultation, Norman has made it clear that he believes reducing services at EDGH will have a negative effect on healthcare provisions for his constituents, particularly those who suffer a stroke or are in need of emergency surgery.  He has also raised concerns about the potential domino effect that a reduction of services could have and could set a nasty precedent that could result in maternity services being downgraded.

Norman says:

“While I understand that no decision has been made publicly yet on where the changes will be made, with Brighton a fixed point of delivery and Eastbourne’s relative proximity to Brighton, when compared to that of Hastings, it does not bode well for retaining these important services at the EDGH.

“I appreciate that the Trust is under some financial and clinical pressures, but we simply cannot have a two tier health system where those who live in Hastings and Brighton get a good service and those who rely on Eastbourne getting the short end of the stick.  I have made my feelings very clear in my letter to the Chief Executive of the Trust, Darren Grayson, that key services at the DGH must be retained and I would encourage constituents, particularly, in Seaford and Polegate to do the same.”

The Trust consultation documents can be found at:

http://www.esht.nhs.uk/shapingourfuture/

The number of Kittiwake has more than halved since the mid 1980s across the UK and populations in Scotland have crashed by almost two thirds.  However, the cliff-top colony at Splash Point is bucking the trend.  This year it is made up of around 1100 pairs, which is 300 more than last year.  Splash Point also saw chicks hatching at the beginning of June, which bodes well for the year ahead.

In 2008, the Kittiwake was added to an international watch list of threatened species, under the Ospar-Oslo-Paris Convention which was set up to protect the marine environment of the north-east Atlantic.

Norman says:

“It is obviously a matter of significant concern that numbers around the country are dwindling.  However, the fact that Seaford’s Kittiwake population is thriving is certainly very pleasant news indeed.  It is clear that Seaford is most certainly the place to be if you are a twitcher and wish to see Kittiwake thriving in their natural habitat.”

The local MP warned earlier in the year, following an hour-long meeting with Darren Grayson, the Chief Executive of East Sussex Healthcare, that maternity services could be in trouble.   In fact the proposals are even worse than the MP anticipated.

Four years ago the Independent Reconfiguration Panel, on the Instruction of the then Health Secretary, concluded that Eastbourne and Hastings each needed their own individual consultant-led maternity ward, yet the new leaked proposals show that the Trust is chancing its luck again with the recommended proposal of “one consultant led unit on one site and a Midwifery led unit on another site” being put forward.

However, the leaked proposals go even further.  They propose:

• Reducing emergency and elective surgery to just one site
• Reducing general surgery provision to only low risk cases, with no overnight stays
• Centralising stroke care
• Reducing Paediatrics inpatient care to one site
• Reducing emergency care by only maintaining a Trauma unit at one site

Norman says:

“While I do accept that financial and clinical pressures are likely to lead to a renationalisation of delivery of key services in East Sussex, these proposals are far more severe than anyone expected.  I know that residents of Seaford and Polegate, particularly expectant mothers, will be horrified to hear about the sheer scale of the proposals.  Constituents can rest assured that I will be steadfastly opposing any changes that will disadvantage them and I will be taking this up with the Health Secretary personally.  I will also be working with Eastbourne’s Lib Dem MP, Stephen Lloyd, to unite in opposition to the changes.”

Seaford Head currently offers education for those aged between 11 and 16, but despite being the largest town in the Lewes constituency, with a population of some 25,000, Seaford has no sixth form college.  The Seaford Board of Trustees hopes to change all that by utilising the previously rented out Old School Annex and the government’s Free School funding, to provide post-16 education A levels, including Baccalaureate subjects.

The local MP has supported the school’s application in writing to the Education Secretary, Michael Gove MP.

Norman says:

“Free Schools are not going to be ideal in every circumstance, and they must be looked at on a case-by-case basis, but I think that in this instance this is a great opportunity for the College, and a real chance to provide greater access to education for post-16 students not just in Seaford, but further afield as well, and complement the excellent educational opportunities provided by Sussex Downs College.”