Dismay over CHC loss

Although it had been known for some time that CHCs were to be phased out, the sudden deadline and the absence of adequate replacements has horrified Sussex CHC chief officers.

'The NHS watchdog has finally been put down,' declared Patricia Marston, the chief officer for Hastings and Rother CHC.

'The whole system for public involvement in the NHS is going to be enormously under funded. The blame for this lies squarely with the Government.'

'A complete and utter shambles,' said Sue Cleve, the acting chief officer of the Brighton, Hove and Lewes CHC. 'This is not thought through, and patients will not get as good a deal in future.

'It is not satisfactory for us and it is certainly not satisfactory for patients.'

Eastbourne, Seaford and Wealden Community Health Council has been preparing for the demise of CHCs for the last 13 months. It has established shadow patient forums that will, chief officer Christine Martin-Adams believes, 'be able to address patients' concerns with the full backing of the Trust.'

However, she also said: 'All the promises made 13 months ago, when it was announced that CHCs were to go, have not been fulfiled it is a very sad affair.'

Volunteers

Community Health Councils were established in 1974 to ensure that the NHS listened to patients' concerns and complaints. There are 700 staff in CHCs across the country, many of whom will now lose their jobs. Some 5,000 volunteer CHC members give their time to act as unpaid watchdogs for NHS patients, and CHCs assist with 30,000 complaints each year.

There is confusion about what will replace the CHCs, whose role will be split between organisations yet to be established. A Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee is one of the new arrangements to replace CHCs, but East Sussex County Council has not yet agreed to fund this.

The council insists this is a new responsibility which is not funded by central government, but it is consulting to put appropriate arrangements in place. The Government promised to provide independent one-stop-shops in the community, which people could visit with their NHS problems and complaints, but it has reneged on this and there will be no shops at all.

'It's all very complicated and fragmented,' said Sue Cleve. 'The average member of the public sees the NHS as one big system, and doesn't understand that it's split into different parts. People know to come to us with complaints.

'How are they going to access a new system that even we don't understand? The system needs to be simplified, not made more complicated.'