Worthing Mayor Tom Wye looks back over his tenure

Little did he know last May that the ensuing 12 months would be consumed by one of the greatest civic protests in the town's history - the Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals campaign.

And still it goes on, with public consultation on the downgrading or even closure of Worthing Hospital put back, yet again, until after the local elections. Here Councillor Wye looks back at the many twists and turns of his municipal tenure.

I little thought that when I became Mayor of Worthing that I would be trying to prevent the biggest threat to the town in its peacetime history.

I say that without fear of contradiction as the threat of closure, or downgrading of our hospitals, was, and still is, exactly that.

The focus of my mayoral year changed, virtually from day one. The Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals (KWASH) campaign has taken up every spare minute of my time.

I have had many happy engagements with the splendid schools in Worthing but not as many as I had planned, or indeed desired.

The special council meeting to debate the threat decided unanimously to oppose, by all legal means, the downgrading or closure of our medical facilities .

It was heartening to hear both sides of the chamber debating the motion that ensured we sent the strongest possible message to the Primary Care Trust (PCT) that Worthing Borough Council was not going to sit idly by and watch them dismember our health facilities.

In August, a public demonstration, followed by a public meeting, was organised.

The meeting proved to be a lesson in evasiveness as the Strategic Health Authority (SHA) and PCT consistently refused to answer any specific questions put to them by the public.

"We have not made up our minds," was the often repeated cry, followed by, "You will know what options we are considering when we publish our consultation document in September."

It was little wonder that the people of Worthing left feeling despondent and frustrated.

It was a most difficult meeting to "chair" and I still regret that I upset at least one gentleman with my desire to get through as many questions as possible.

Obviously time precluded everyone asking a question but I did my honest best.

I shared the frustration of the people and when I asked people to stop booing at the evasive answers, deep down I wanted to join in.

The PCT and the SHA agreed to answer any written questions that could not be accepted on the night.

It is a matter of public record that they reneged on this agreement.

The march that preceded the public meeting was the finest show of support for a single issue ever demonstrated by the residents of Worthing.

You can imagine my alarm when the car dropped me off at George V Avenue with half an hour to go before the planned start of the march and there were barely a dozen people present, and five of them were from my direct family! My alarm was short-lived, for, as if by magic, literally thousands of residents appeared.

I remember one elderly lady who appeared in her Second World War tin helmet saying that she had been stationed in the hospital during the war.

She was quite emphatic that the Germans could not close the hospital and certainly no British government should even try to do so while she was about. A truly spirited lady!

Our wonderful nurses and doctors appeared in their droves and added considerable colour to the event.

It was agreed at the public meeting that the two Members of Parliament should form a committee to organise the campaign.

A meeting was quickly arranged in Worthing Hospital and a committee formed.

Some fundamental decisions were made at this meeting including:

• Worthing and Southlands were to be treated as one hospital under threat.
• All monies received for the campaign would be held by the Hospital League of Friends and in the event that they were not required they would remain with the League for use in the hospitals. Ron Noakes, chairman of the League, was voted in as treasurer to ensure this happened.
• I was elected as chairman.

KWASH was adopted as our official title. We would work closely with the consultants and welcomed them as part of the committee. It was at this inaugural meeting that Ann Schriener came up with the idea of a "Hands Round Our Hospitals"

demonstration.

This was to prove one of our biggest challenges but probably the best event to date. The provision of an office has been beset with problems. We had an office, we had volunteers, we had the computers, but at the last moment we were informed that we could not use the hospital IT facilities.

The public meeting has been arranged twice but then postponed as the PCT procrastinated and put off its consultation phase.

During this period, Tim Loughton MP was negotiating with artist Mike Payne and the Nurse Sunshine logo was ultimately adopted.

During the planning of the "Hands Round Our Hospitals"

demonstration Dr David Uncles came up with the idea that at the same time as we linked arms round both hospitals, he would organise a giant KWASH to be spelt in human bodies in Homefield Park. I have to confess I thought the idea quite mad.

How delighted I am to say that I was utterly and completely wrong. We achieved, with some very effective planning, what I considered the impossible. KWASH was now firmly on the national agenda and received cover from all local stations, plus the BBC, ITV and Sky.

The consultation, or indeed the date for the consultation, was still not forthcoming in December and we deliberated as to whether the 24-hour vigil should go ahead.

We decided it was necessary, if only to stop the PCT dictating the campaign schedule. We chose the coldest night of the year and I am indebted to the small band of volunteers who braved the cold and supported us.

The 24 hours was not without incident and we witnessed some of the drunken and probably drug-affected behaviour our hospital staff have to cope with.

The fact that Splash FM recorded the whole vigil live was an added bonus and the launch of the Nurse Sunshine rap was well received.

Mike Payne, Splash FM and local musicians had worked very hard to achieve such a high standard and again the KWASH campaign appeared on the national news as the song was given rave reviews.

The prayer ending the vigil, composed by Father Edward Jervis, rector of St Andrew's Church, Tarring, was read out on Splash FM and repeated in all of the churches in Worthing.

December also saw the launch of Nurse Sunshine Christmas cards, again designed and supported by Mike Payne. Des Lynam and Alison Lapper supported this and their public signings of the cards and eventual delivery to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt ensured more national media coverage.

We managed to fill a small bus of volunteers to attend the "all party" demonstration in Westminster Hall.

The KWASH campaigners were indeed "all party" as it was attended by Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and the main KWASH speaker was a Labour councillor, who works in Worthing Hospital.

I would like to record my most sincere thanks to Franziska Waller, Derek and Val Hitchon, and Lisa and Neil Hill who have been relentless in their efforts to get the message out by manning stalls at every opportunity. To them and the many others I say a very public "Thank you".

The staff at the hospital have been nothing short of fantastic. Many would be better off by keeping a distance from the campaign and either be quiet or even "suck up" to the PCT who, after all, are their employers.

I have heard them speak passionately to preserve their departments, not to secure their jobs but to ensure the services they provide are still available.

I still have ringing in my ears the statement made by a consultant during the early days of the campaign that "if the Worthing A& E closes, people in Worthing will die".

The Valentine "Hearts"

demonstration thought up and organised by Mrs Sue Cook was yet another novel way of keeping the campaign rolling. We cannot expect every demonstration to attract thousands of people, but small, well organised events can keep the fight in the public eye.

The business community has been supportive of KWASH since the very early days. I will never forget the actions of Symonds and Reading estate agents in going public with the approach by "some government department"

requesting the valuation of the Worthing Hospital site.

Their action typified the feeling of all fair-minded people and I was delighted to invite them into the Mayor's parlour.

The dinner organised by Roy Stannard with Worthing First, and the presentation to SEEDA, were other activities fully supported by the business community.

We have had a few unexpected occurrences during the campaign. My letter to the Prime Minister, asking him to intervene, resulted in the bizarre reply that he would forward my letter to the Department of Transport.

At least I had the satisfaction that the PM did in fact read my second letter as I received a personal reply.

I would have much sooner received an assurance that he would intervene.

I never expected the tactics employed by the PCT regarding its "consultation"

to be so negative.

After informing the public that they would go to consultation in September they have consistently moved the goal posts and even at the time of writing (March) we only know that it will be delivered "after the local elections".

In May, I hand over the mayoral chain of office to councillor Mrs Heather Mercer and I am confident that she will fight any cuts.

She will have my unequivocal support. Being Mayor of the finest town in the UK has been a great privilege.

Our message must be clear and simple. We will not sit back and watch our medical services destroyed!