HC Deb 03 April 2001 vol 366 cc139-40W
Mr. Blunt

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of the extra costs to be incurred by the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare Trust following his decision to suspend the transfer of services between the East Surrey and Crawley hospitals if that suspension is (a) until January 2002 and (b) indefinite. [156786]

Ms Stuart

The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare National Health Service Trust has estimated the direct cost arising from the decision to suspend the transfer of services between East Surrey and Crawley Hospitals to be:

  1. (a) The total cost of maintaining services at both sites is approximately £239,000, if the services are maintained until January 2002, and;
  2. (b) approximately £53,000 per month thereafter if services are maintained on both sites.

It is in the best interest of the local population that any further service reconfigurations are suspended until the conclusions of the South East Surrey and North West Sussex Service review are known by the end of 2001. The review aims to produce recommendations on the long term provision of acute, primary and intermediate care services for the area for 2010 onwards. The trust will continue to ensure that patient care is not compromised.