Laura Moffatt MP Comments for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting 24 February 2009

1. I have attended as many of the review stakeholder meetings as I possibly could, including when the panel was present.

2. I would like to congratulate all those involved in what was an extremely well run review.

3. The appointment of the Chair, Sir Graeme Catto, a leading clinician, Professor of Medicine at the University of Aberdeen and currently the President of the General Medical Council was welcomed by all political parties not least because of his significant experience as a senior NHS consultant.

4. The review remit was access to acute (hospital) and non-acute (community) health services, in this area.

5. The final report now clearly represents a strong and collective professional view on how we should be delivering healthcare in Crawley and the surrounding area.

6. It certainly listened to local opinion on all aspects of healthcare. The question is, did the review process listen and respond?

7. We all want to see a new hospital in Crawley and I continue to press that case in the longer term as our population expands, but there are huge improvements in this report which we also want to see now.

8. Poor primary care services made us reliant on one hospital for all our needs. Things are so much different now. If you ask senior doctors, nurses and therapists what they want to see and how they believe services need to be organised then surely you ,must listen to what they say?

9. The organisation of health services has changed dramatically over the years in response to improved and increasingly complex treatments. That has meant changes to the way services are organised.

10. It is difficult for the Department of Health to predict need over the next 25 years with new technologies coming on line all the time. It is even more difficult to do that accurately at a local level.

11. I have always tried to do the right thing for Crawley. I refuse to make promises just to get votes.

12. The hard facts are that Crawley is the most reviewed reconfiguration of services in the country. I have made sure of that.

13. With a government that’s put three times as much money into the NHS it’s clear this has never been about money. It was always about improving the health of Crawley people.

14. The undoubted improvements in care at the East Surrey Hospital have certainly helped.

15. The recent ‘Wellbeing’ launch was all about health improvement and I am pleased that both West Sussex County Council and Crawley Borough Council have supported that.

16. The report should have the full support of all local health providers who are completely signed up to delivering on all the recommendations. I shall certainly be watching to make sure we in Crawley get what has been promised.

17. Three key areas which I have been pressing hard for on behalf of Crawley people are; - increase the number of beds at the Crawley hospital site, - the restoration of or replacement of the shuttle bus service and - significant improvement in access to our cancer services.

18. I will be directly asking people in Crawley what they think of these proposals.

19. The review is promising for Crawley in all these areas and, along with the many other improvements to local services it contains, represents a real step forward for healthcare in Crawley.

20. Delivery is the key.

21. I will continue to fight for better health services in Crawley – including the placing of a Midwife Led Maternity Unit at Crawley Hospital.

22. Right here, right now, a new hospital building in Crawley wouldn’t save a single extra life. These changes will.