Hastings council urges Health Secretary to intervene over plans to move specialist heart surgeries to Eastbourne

NHS leaders approved the plans this month.

But Cllr Paul Barnett, HBC leader, said patients will be forced to travel 20 miles for appointments and has asked the Health Secretary to intervene.

In his letter, which was also signed by Julia Hilton, HBC’s Green party leader, and Andy Patmore, the council’s Conservative group leader, he said: “For a town like Hastings, with the worst health and highest deprivation in the south of England, this will be very harmful. 1,500 residents a year will be forced to travel 20 miles and many will as a result not follow through on this critical treatment.

"This comes after other services have been moved, such as stroke services, and capital investment here is scheduled to be far below Eastbourne. It feels as if our hospital is being downgraded.

"The NHS team locally briefed me on their decision and told me that there is little difference between the two towns regarding health inequality. We find that hard to believe, when we have just agreed with the new Sussex NHS Trust, a focus on Hastings due to the long term levels of health inequality here.

“Hastings needs a first-class hospital or our residents health will continue to lag well behind where it should be.”

The NHS Sussex Board unanimously endorsed plans to consolidate the county’s catheterisation laboratories (or cath labs) at Eastbourne, rather than in Hastings.

The NHS said 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.

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.”

The plans will now be submitted to the East Sussex Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC), which is due to meet in December.