LETTER: Medical centre is a done deal

So, apart from a miraculous advance in medical science, I shall not be around to have to endure the ‘Brave New Horsham’ - mapped out for us by a compliant Tory local authority.

Once an attractive rural market town - soon to be joined at the hip of our neighbour - that characterless post-war urban sprawl - called Crawley.

As I hope I made clear in my previous letter on the subject, having been a patient of Dr Dean at the Park Surgery since his arrival in Horsham, I have nothing but praise for him as a highly professional and caring general practitioner.

Few medicos could match him in our computerised NHS - which allows for just a ten-minute diagnosis - with the prospect of something akin to the notorious ‘Liverpool Pathway’ - for those of riper years suffering from costly nursing conditions.

Having read through Dr Dean’s latest piece with more than a cursory eye - and more importantly between the lines - in spite of all his reassuring words about continuing public consultation, it seems likely to me that the proposed new Medical Centre at Broadbridge Heath is already a done deal.

Nothing new about that - and I shall be delighted to be proven wrong - and buy him a pint of our super local Horsham ale!

But surely the critical point in his piece is Dr Dean’s revealing statement - ‘It takes many years to train a GP and to recruit them into an expensive area such as ours is difficult’. He adds, ’Currently in North London 40 per cent of training posts are unfilled’. As a graduate of The Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead - he should know.

But more importantly he infers that newly qualified GPs and specialist nurses are underpaid for an area such as West Sussex.

And here am I naively continuing to regard medicine as a noble vocation - when clearly it’s all about money in what is now a market-driven profession - the majority of training costs being met by us - the taxpayers.

Come back, Nye Bevan - all is forgiven!

ROBERT B. WORLEY

Ayshe Court Drive, Horsham