A POWERFUL committee scrutinising Fit for the Future hospital changes is due to decide tomorrow (July 23) whether to refer the future of maternity services to Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Health.
The Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee will meet at County Hall in Chichester at 11am. The meeting will also be webcast online via the West Sussex County Council website.
Committee members will focus on the decisions made by West Suss
ex Primary Care Trust on the model for future health services including where to base a consultant led maternity unit.
If maternity services are not referred to Mr Johnson for further scrutiny, there is a danger the Princess Royal Hospital's consultant-led unit could close in three to five years' time with services being centralised in Worthing.
Mid Sussex MP Nicholas Soames will address the meeting and is expected to call for maternity services to be referred after an independent panel of experts used by Mr Johnson overturned a decision to close a rural unit in Oxfordshire.
The webcast of the meeting will be available via a link from the county council website at www.westsussex.gov.uk, or directly from the host website at www.westsussex.public-i.tv/site/ where a guide will be found to opening the link.
See tomorrow's Mid Sussex Times for a full report
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