I was told ages ago Worthing would win hospital battle...

I tried to ask Mr Witherspoon whether this was true and he evaded the question.

I ask again, Mr Witherspoon, why have you wasted all this money with a public consultation when the decision had already been taken?

It is quite outrageous people will have to travel to Worthing, with the A27 a nightmare, no parking in Worthing and a ruination of an extremely good hospital.

What secret deal have the PCT arrived at with the consultants to ignore the plight of 1,000s of people around this end of West Sussex.

I am so angry I wouldrecommend the entire population of this area to block the A27 en masse as a protest to this outrageous decision.

S Alexander SRN, Birdham

My elderly mother collapsed at home and I called an ambulance. She was at St Richard's A&E within 45 minutes, and later transferred to an appropriate ward. As a non-driving pensioner myself I have been able to walk to see her each day. I dread to think how she or I would have coped if our local (!!!) hospital had been Worthing.

Yes, there is a 700 bus but it takes a couple of hours to get to Worthing and that's not to the hospital.

I am sure I am not an isolated case and I wish with all my heart the St Richard's downgrade does not go ahead and that this excellent hospital be allowed to continue serving our ever-increasing community.

Angela Boucherat, Chichester

Can the views and the vote of Dr Farhang Tahzib, a PCT member who wrote an influential report for the PCT concerning social deprivation, be considered as impartial when he is also chairman of the Worthing Together Local Strategic Partnership? Social deprivation in the Worthing area is, the public are informed, one of the factors determining the choice of Worthing for the major hospital.

Can the vote in favour of Worthing by Dr Andrew Ffoulkes be considered disinterested, in view of the fact his wife is a paediatric physiotherapist based at Worthing hospital?

PCT member David King is a Worthing-based councillor with a child who has a long-term illness requiring regular attendances at hospital.

Why did the PCT apparently seek deliberately to keep from the public the fact an agreement had already been reached between Worthing and Brighton hospitals that the obstetric unit at Worthing would not be materially upgraded, but seriously-ill babies would be cared for at Brighton?

Ann Berry,

Coach House Close, Selsey

Having had a heart attack at the end of February last, I do not know what would have happened if I had to travel further than St Richard's.

The important strategic position of St Richard's is obvious, in the middle of West Sussex, making Worthing, at the other end of West Sussex, near two large Brighton hospitals, an idiot's choice.

RM Hetzel, Aldwick

I understand there is no financial reason for the PCT to downgrade any of the hospitals in West Sussex.

Therefore the whole upsetting, time-consuming, badly-designed public consultation exercise about what hospital to downgrade, which must have cost millions, has been unnecessary and incredibly wasteful.

This money could have been spent on improving the NHS in ways that are needed such as better cleanliness on wards, more beds, etc.

This cavalier disregard of the needs of severely-ill people is almost unbelievable.

Emma Tristram, Binsted, Arundel

Half-an-hour extra to medical care can make all the difference.

Maria Harding,

Tufts Meadow, Midhurst