Give East Sussex Hospital Trust (ESHT) a chance..! It was very disappointing to see that ESHT had been put into special measures, in spite of the hugely challenging decisions they have had to make in order to meet the financial cutbacks in NHS funding, and ever increasing demand for services.
Despite this they have managed to break even, whilst continuing to help prolong the life of thousands of people with good patient care and services throughout the upheavals, for which the Board and the staff deserve congratulations.
I am sure that, without exception, they have had the best interests of the patients and staff foremost in their minds. Of course there is always room for improvement, but let’s give them a chance to show the long term gains for the community of streamlining their services and providing centres of excellence.
It seems that there are some members of the community and the media who are always keen to highlight the errors that have occurred, but never praise the good service provided for the majority of the half million people they serve.
Demanding the heads of the Board and Executives is not the way to deal with the real issues of lack of resources caused by underfunding and the lack of availability of skilled permanent staff. Morale is understandably low, and they deserve our support.
Yours faithfully,
Sally Compton, Rye
http://www.ryehospital.org.uk/friends.php
Sally Compton is the chairman of the Friends of Rye Hospital
I have never had anything but first class treatment from my GP, Dr Bolidai, his surgery, and from our Conquest Hospital in Hastings that has an enviable tradition of care and expertise. Our NHS is still trying to recover from the disastrous ‘reforms’ imposed by the previous and current administrations, and from the quasi-privatisations initiated by the Blair government. The NHS is also trying to survive in a country that does not believe in taxation (the UK has the lowest tax income per capita of any other first world country apart from the notorious tax havens).