NHS Sussex approves moving specialist heart surgeries from Hastings to Eastbourne

On Wednesday (November 2), the NHS Sussex Board unanimously endorsed plans to consolidate the county’s catheterisation laboratories (or cath labs) at Eastbourne District General Hospital, rather than Conquest Hospital in Hastings.

The plans will now be submitted to the East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), which will consider if the changes are in the best interests of residents.

Claudia Griffith, Chief Delivery Officer at NHS Sussex, said: “The proposed changes detailed in the business case arose from a desire to ensure we are offering the best possible services, that high quality meets national standards and provides the best outcomes for local people.

“The current arrangement of services doesn’t enable us to deliver this and it is increasingly challenging to deliver.”

Currently there are cath labs — where angiograms, angioplasties and pacemaker implantations are carried out — at both hospitals.

According to meeting papers, the change will affect approximately 1,500 patients each year, those being patients who would have previously attended Conquest Hospital to access the specialist service. This would amount to around three per cent of patients who use cardiology services in East Sussex.

Other parts of the cardiology service — such as outpatients, non-invasive diagnostics, cardiac-monitored beds, cardiac rehabilitation and heart failure services — will continue to be available at both sites.

The NHS also plans to create emergency cardiac response teams at both hospitals, which would run alongside consultant-led ‘hot clinics’.

Described as ‘front door’ services, the NHS says these changes would significantly reduce waiting times for people attending A&E with chest pains or other symptoms of a heart condition.

The change shave seen some significant opposition raised.

Following a full council meeting last month, Hastings political leaders joined forces to call for the plans to be abandoned.

HOSC are next set to meet in December. While no agenda has yet been published, it is likely councillors will consider the cardiology proposals at that time.

During the same meeting, the board also approved plans to reorganise ophthalmology services in East Sussex. The NHS plans to move day and outpatient services out of Conquest Hospital to Bexhill Hospital instead.

The proposal would not affect unplanned or emergency care.