Sussex Defend the NHS is hosting a hustings in Brighton this evening (Thursday 9 April).
The event is due to take place from 7pm to 9pm at St George’s Church, in St George’s Road, Kemp Town, a few hundred yards from the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
The panellists include Davy Jones (Green) and Nancy Platts (Labour), both of whom are standing in Brighton Kemptown at the general election next month.
They will be joined by A&E consultant Rob Galloway, the medical adviser to the NHS Support Federation.
Dr Galloway is also the medical director of the Brighton marathon which takes place on Sunday (12 April).
He was also among the signatories to a public letter about the coalition government’s record on the NHS. The letter said: “The coalition has failed to keep its NHS pledges.
“The squeeze on services is hitting patients.
“People may be unaware that under the coalition, dozens of accident and emergency (A&E) departments and maternity units have been closed or earmarked for closure or downgrading.
“In addition, 51 NHS walk-in centres have been closed or downgraded in this time and more than 60 ambulance stations have shut and more than 100 general practices are at risk of closure.
“The core infrastructure of the NHS is also being eroded with the closure of hospitals and thousands of NHS beds since 2010.
“Mental health and primary care are faring no better.
“A&E target waiting times have not been met for a year and are at the worst levels for more than a decade.
“And elderly vulnerable patients are marooned in hospital because our colleagues in social care have no money or staff to provide much-needed services at home.
“Funding reductions for local authorities (in some places reductions as high as 40 per cent) have undermined the viability of many local authority social care services across England.
“This has resulted in more patients arriving at A&E and more patients trapped in hospital as the necessary social care support needed to ensure their safe discharge is no longer there.
“The NHS is withering away.”
The hustings organisers said that the issues locally included the difficulties being faced by former patients of the Eaton Place doctors’ surgery in registering as patients elsewhere.
They also flagged up the increasing use of private ambulances by the South East Coast Ambulance Service and the outsourcing of services locally, for example, the Integrated Community Equipment Service.
They said: “Get answers to questions about what is happening to local NHS services.
“Let politicians know what they need to do to save the NHS and get our votes.”
