Miss M. Watts is right when she says how vital the accident and emergency department at the Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, is (Opinion, August 3).

A few years ago my sister-in-law collapsed on the pavement in Brighton and was taken by ambulance to the A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton, where her condition was found to be so serious an intensive care bed was needed immediately.

One was not available there but eventually one was found at the Princess Royal. She was transported there by ambulance and was in an intensive care bed by 9pm.

She was in the intensive care unit department for a month without regaining consciousness before she died.

While our family were deeply grateful to the Princess Royal for its devoted attention, getting to and from Brighton and Hove to Haywards Heath every day was soul destroying and the thought she may have survived if she could have been treated at the RSCH will always be with us.

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