Whilst the speed and convenience of digital payments opens a world of opportunity for people and businesses, I know that for many people in our rural community - often the elderly - access to cash is crucial. For this reason, in my role as a Minister in the Treasury, I have worked to deliver a solution that ensures a legal right of free access to cash for the first time ever. Millions of people across the country rely on free cash withdrawals and thousands of small and medium sized businesses need to deposit cash and this is very much the case here in West Sussex. This is in addition to the Government introducing the widespread ability to get cash back without a purchase turning every corner shop into a potential source of cash too.
This week, we received positive news on local healthcare. The Government has confirmed that work on the Brighton Trauma, Tertiary and Training redevelopment will continue as part of a £20 billion upgrade to hospitals across the country. This renovation is one of the largest upgrades we have ever seen in Sussex. The improvements mean Brighton Hospital’s 40 wards will be fully modernised for the benefit of patients and staff. The county will also have access to an array of new, state-of-the-art facilities for a diverse range of services including medical wards, cancer services, critical care, neurosciences, stroke service, imaging and a new fracture clinic - alongside many others.
The new and modern designs being implemented in Brighton will be implemented at other hospitals across the country. They are built with the workload of NHS staff in mind, and will ensure the best possible provision of care for patients. I am pleased we are benefitting from this local upgrade but will continue raise the issues facing residents in our more rural areas – including access to GPs and pharmacies.
