LETTER: View from CCG is short on specifics

Like David Phillips (letters 2 October 2014) I too am a long time patient of Riverside Surgery. His letter is, I feel, typical of one from a quango, very long - some 18 paragraphs - and somewhat short on specifics. ‘Enhanced services in the community’ is the title and the phrase is used at least three times in the letter but at no stage are we told what this means.

As a lay member of the Clinical Commissioning Group his task is to ensure patients’ interests are represented in local healthcare provision. I take that to mean ensuring that I do not have to wait some 8-9 days to see my GP or explain to the receptionist why my request is an emergency.

The patients of the three surgeries under threat do not need a state of the art surgery out of town they need ‘enhanced services’ at Horsham Hospital, for example, or very close by. After all, the state of the art building is, shall we say, a sweetener from the developers at Broadbridge Heath.

Finally, I urge readers to wonder at the money spent by the Horsham and Mid Sussex CCG on web design, Facebook and Twitter, money that might be better spent in GP surgeries.

ALAN TAYLOR

Havengate, Horsham