Chichester MP Gillian Keegan applauds plans to build stroke centre in Chichester hospital

The plans were greenlit at a meeting of NHS Sussex officials on Wednesday (November 29) and involve building an acute stroke centre at the Chichester hospital, intended to work in tandem with a similar service at Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, ensuring residents are always within an hour’s ambulance ride away from a nationally compliant stroke centre.

Since the approval, Chichester MP Gillian Keegan has applauded the hard work of the healthcare researchers who made it happen: “I am pleased that St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester has been chosen to host the new Acute Stroke Centre as part of the wider network with the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton,” she said.

“Strokes are one of the leading causes of death in the UK, so having this new centre in our city will vastly improve outcomes for people across West Sussex. I would like to thank all who have been involved in getting us to this point, and I look forward to seeing further developments in the near future.”

News of the improved stroke services come after the government announced that it had hit its target of recruiting and retaining 50,000 more nurses in England, including 9,000 more nurses in the South East to improve waiting times.

It also comes as another boost to health services in West Sussex, after it was announced that the Chichester University Community Diagnostic Centre will open nearby in Bognor Regis, providing CT and MRI scans, as well as ultrasound tests, to patients.