Hospital is a real asset to town, mayor declares

THE NEW mayor of Crowborough ended up in a local hospital for her first offical engagement.

Cllr Kay Moss visited The Horder Centre on Tuesday and described the orthopaedic hospital as an "asset to the town" during her tour of the building on St Johns Road.

Cllr Moss was one of four mayors to be invited to the open day, including Mayor of Uckfield Cllr Len Ashby. Around 200 people turned up to see the facilities first-hand.

The councillors were shown some of the single rooms offered to all patients of The Horder Centre and spent time in one of the operating theatres with operating theatre supervisor Peter Rattray.

Cllr Moss said: "It's fascinating to see what goes on behind the scenes at The Horder Centre, which is an excellent and very well-run local hospital and a real asset to the town."

She added: "This is my first official engagement as mayor and it has been a pleasure to visit The Horder Centre. My in-laws have both been treated here and praised the care they received."

On the day plans for the centre's multi-million pound redevelopment project were on show. The three-year scheme aims to achieve a number of key improvements at the charity-run hospital.

More than £3m will be spent on the first phase of the project alone.

Di Thomas, chief executive of The Horder Centre, said: "I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who made the effort to attend the open day. The event gave us the opportunity to highlight not only our excellent facilities and our friendly staff, but also to explain our plans to redevelop the hospital to bring further improvements."

She added: "We were thrilled to welcome the mayor of Crowborough on her first official engagement."