February 26 2015.


East Sussex County Council has declared Homefield Place in Seaford surplus to requirements and now Norman Baker is pushing for this site to be used to deliver much needed healthcare services.

The Eastbourne, Hailsham and Seaford Clinical Commissioning Group Needs and Assets Profile for East Sussex Public Health, published in September 2014, identified a number of areas which demonstrate Seaford’s lack of access to health services:

· Seaford locality has one of the oldest age profiles of all East Sussex localities

· Significantly fewer households have no car or van

· Fewer Seaford households who can access a GP using public transport or walking within 15 minutes, then in other areas of East Sussex

· Seaford has the lowest percentage of households who can access a hospital within 30 minutes using public transport or walking.

· Compared to East Sussex Seaford has a significantly higher percentage of people providing one or more hours of unpaid care per week

· Referrals to adult social care are significantly higher than East Sussex, as are adults who receive community equipment or social care funded lifeline/telecare.

· Seaford has some of the highest prevalence’s of Chronic diseases, such as; atrial fibrillation and asthma, significantly higher prevalence of hypertension, stroke, cancer, hypothyroidism and chronic kidney disease compared to East Sussex, significantly higher prevalence of CHD

· Seaford also has some of the highest emergency admissions for CHD than East Sussex and significantly higher emergency admissions for pneumonia than East Sussex

Norman says: ‘Seaford is the biggest town in Lewes District and is woefully provided for in terms of healthcare services. Seaford has one of the oldest populations in East Sussex with fewer households having a car. This means that older people have to travel to Hastings and Eastbourne to access clinics that could easily be delivered in Seaford. Now that Homefield Place is empty, it is an ideal opportunity for the Clinical Commissioning Group to take it over and provide some community based services.’

Liberal Democrat County Councillor Carolyn Lambert adds: ‘I will continue to work with local GPs to put together a proposal for this site. It is clear that local residents don’t want to lose this facility. The building is central to Seaford and has parking so it would be an ideal place to locate community healthcare clinics.’