I REFER to the letter from Bob Sharp in the Citizen (August 14). I am sorry that I have only recently seen Mr Sharp's letter but I felt it would still be helpful to respond to the points he makes.

First of all, the trust's aim is not to close all local hospitals, as Mr Sharp contends.

We have certainly concentrated all of our in-patient, and some specialist services on to the Princess Alexandra Hospital site, but we still provide a very wide range of out-patient and diagnostic services in local hospitals such as St Margaret's in Epping.

In fact, the trust has actually opened a new facility in Hoddesdon recently to increase access for our users there, and has worked with colleagues in the community trust to open a new facility in Loughton.

Secondly, the areas set aside for public parking are not "diminishing", in fact the trust board has made it quite clear that the priority for parking on the Princess Alexandra Hospital site is for patients and visitors rather than staff.

Indeed, we have rented additional space for staff off site, in order to reduce pressure and to improve vehicle safety.

Thirdly, we applied for planning permission and appealed against the original rejection of that plan, in order to create more spaces on this site.

That appeal has now been rejected both on the grounds of environmental concerns but also because there is a large amount of unused car parking spaces adjacent to the hospital site.

As a result of this recent decision, we are reviewing our approach to car parking in order to further improve access to the public, particulary the elderly and disabled.

I hope this answers Mr Sharp's concerns.

JOHN WILDERSPIN,

Chief Executive of Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust.

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