Update on cardiology services at Hastings and Eastbourne hospitals

Improving our local NHS is a key priority for me as your Member of Parliament.

I am pleased that NHS waiting lists are continuing to fall locally, with over 59,000 extra appointments delivered here in East Sussex this year. Hastings and Rother will be one of the first 43 places in the country to directly benefit from a neighbourhood health hub, bringing care closer to our community, and earlier this year the Labour Government announced £10m for East Sussex Hospital Trust to help with vital repairs at the Conquest.

Many people may also be aware that the local NHS are undertaking changes to the way cardiology services are delivered for people living in Hastings, Rye and the villages. It is important for me to emphasise that if you are having heart issues you can still go to appointments as normal at the Conquest. There will be no change to routine cardiology and cardiac care, which will stay on-site at the Conquest and makes up around 97% of cardiology needs in our community. This includes coronary outpatients, non-invasive diagnostics, cardiac-monitored beds, cardiac rehab and heart failure services.

The remaining 3% of cardiology needs which sits outside that are complex cardiology procedures, which are currently split across both Hastings and Eastbourne hospital sites, varying from one week to another and rotating between the two hospitals.

The local NHS ran a public consultation in 2022 under the last Government where it was agreed to only do these 3% of procedures  (complex cardiology procedures) at one hospital site, which is in line with national clinical best practice because it enables a more specialist service as doctors and nurses get more experience doing the procedures. Back in 2022 it was decided the site for these complex cardiology procedures would be Eastbourne. As the MP representing Hastings and Rye, I would of course prefer this to be Hastings, and in back in 2022 I submitted my views as a member of the public to the public consultation. Unfortunately, the 2022 decision was made under the last Government before I was an MP.

Since being elected, I have been raising the questions brought to me by local people and clinicians about how these changes to cardiology services could impact patients living here in Hastings, Rye and the villages. I have written and met several times with the Chief Executive of the East Sussex NHS Trust Jayne Black (herself a former cardiac nurse) about these issues, and recently I organised a meeting with Jayne as CEO; Dr Nik Patel; Barry Upton, who started the recent petition on cardiology care; and Cllr Phil Scott, who as the Councillor for Hollington and Wishing Tree represents many cardiac patients.

We all agreed that ensuring the best cardiology care for patients living in Hastings, Rye and the villages is key.

The message we conveyed to NHS bosses was that:

• There is lot of concern and anxiety about what these changes will mean for cardiology patients living in Hastings, Rye and the villages.

• People in Hastings and Rye need reassurance from independent experts that these changes will achieve the intended outcome of improving cardiac patients’ outcomes. We suggested this could be done by the Trust seeking and sharing independent advice from a trusted professional body such as the British Heart Foundation or British Cardiovascular Society about these changes before going ahead.

• Public transport between Eastbourne and Hastings Conquest hospital is very poor – and we need better public transport links. We are urging East Sussex County Council and the NHS Trust to look at this.

Jayne and her team agreed that it is vital to get these changes right and reassure my constituents that they will get the best cardiac care.  I hope the NHS Trust consider our suggestion about sharing independent advice and if needed, adjust the timescale for the implementation of the move to enable this. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Barry who has worked hard to highlight the concerns of local residents by organising his petition, and local NHS staff who as always work hard to do their best for patients.

I am glad the Conquest continues to be home to East Sussex Trust’s main theatres, the maternity unit, trauma unit, ICU, and much more, and I will continue to stand up for the Conquest and our local NHS services.

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