I have written to the new Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Yvette Cooper, asking for her urgent personal attention to the closure of Zachary Merton Hospital.
This is now the third Health Secretary this year to inherit my call-in request. I first submitted it on 2nd March, and the Department confirmed on 24th April that the matter was under consideration. Almost five months after my original letter, residents still have no substantive decision.
You have been patient, but you should not have to watch this issue pass from one Minister to another every time the Government reshuffles its Cabinet. The clock cannot simply be reset with each new appointment.
I have asked the Secretary of State to confirm that my call-in request remains live, provide a date by which she will make her decision, and ensure that no sale, disposal, or other irreversible action involving the hospital site takes place in the meantime.
These are reasonable requests. It should not take three Health Secretaries to secure a clear answer on a matter of such importance to Rustington and the surrounding area.
I wish Yvette Cooper well in her new role. I will continue pressing the Department until residents receive the decision and clarity they have already waited far too long for.
