Since the sudden emergency closure of the Zachary Merton Hospital, in December 2023, Rustington and the surrounding Parishes have suffered the loss of a vital and much cherished community service. 

The Parish Council has had to fight and chase for communications, regarding plans for the Hospital and future community based Health Care, from the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust and will continue to do so until answers are forthcoming. The Parish Council remains concerned that several fundamental issues raised with the Trust, at the start of the year, are still to be adequately addressed and it will continue to reiterate firmly its request that the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust leads a public consultation focused specifically on the closure and proposed disposal of Zachary Merton Hospital, enabling residents to share their experiences and concerns before irreversible decisions are taken, and prior to the property being placed on the ‘open market’.

The Council is particularly alarmed by the loss of local respite, step-down, and end-of-life care options and it will persist in seeking assurances that existing and future provision is accessible, appropriate, and consistently available to residents of East Arun.

The Parish Council shares the local community's anxiety regarding potential redevelopment, including the loss of green space, the character of any future building, and whether existing covenants on the land will be fully honoured. Clarity is being sought on how the Trust intends to respect both the legal and ethical obligations attached to the site.

The Parish Council continues in its willingness to work with the Trust to facilitate a positive and forward-thinking Health Provision at the Zachary Merton Hospital site.

Littlehampton Gazette Article published 16 January 2026:

Sale of West sussex Village Hospital would be “outrageous waste” of publicly owned facility, Parish Council says

After being told that selling a beloved Rustington Hospital would be 'outrageous waste' of a publicly owned facility, the Chief Medical Officer for the trust responsible reiterated that the building ‘isn’t safe’.

Zachary Merton Hospital, in Glenville Road, was temporarily closed at the end of 2023, due to significant estates issues that affected the condition and safety of the building.

Following the closure, the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust (SCFT) commissioned an independent survey. The trust said this confirmed that ‘extensive repairs, estimated at around £8 million’ were required to bring the building ‘up to the standard we expect for both patients and staff’.

The Trust added: “Due to financial constraints within the Trust and wider system, there is currently no funding available to support this.”

Amid fears the site will now be put up for sale, Rustington Parish Council’s Chairman, Andy Cooper, wrote to Mike Jennings, the Deputy Chief Executive of the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust. According to the Parish Council, Mr Cooper was acting ‘on behalf of the community’, expressing ‘concerns at the lack of communication and consultation’ regarding a much-loved asset.

A spokesperson for the Parish Council said: “The Council cannot express just how appalled it is at the trust’s lack of understanding of the level of emotion and willingness at every level of the community to work with the Trust to facilitate a positive and forward-thinking health provision at the Zachary Merton Hospital site.”

Since the ‘sudden emergency closure’ of the hospital, the community has ‘lost a vital service’, the Council said. It added: “Elected representatives and Scrutiny Committees have had to fight and chase for communications from the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust.

"In the limited communications received assurances given that ‘all options were on the table’ and that community engagement would take place.

"The Trust had made several public reassurances that the community’s opinion mattered.

"The Parish Council feels this is an outrageous waste of a publicly owned facility.

"Despite correspondence from the Trust, received in July, stating that ‘we are committed to engaging meaningfully with the local community throughout this process, and would value the support of the parish council to ensure that we hear the view of residents’, none of the promised opportunities to consult with the community have ever come to fruition.”

Dr Karen Eastman, Chief Medical Officer for the Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust, issued a statement to Sussex World on Friday, January 16.

She said: “Providing the best possible care for our patients is always at the heart of what we do. We are working closely with our health and care partners to shape a neighbourhood health approach that genuinely reflects the needs of the community, including in the Arun area.

“We know that, for many people, receiving care at home can support better physical health, improved wellbeing, and a smoother recovery.

“We understand that there is a strong connection with the building from the local community, and for many of our staff, however we can’t deliver care from a building that isn’t safe for patients or staff.

“Locally we continue to offer a wide range of healthcare services, including Urgent Community Response which supports people to stay at home when acutely unwell or return home safely from hospital, as well as virtual wards that bring hospital‑level care directly into people’s homes. We know that, for many people, receiving care in the comfort of your own home can support better physical health, improved wellbeing and overall recovery rate.”

In December, content creators @urban.xplores and @tress.pass.south gained access, via an open window, to the abandoned hospital. The Explorers’ social media posts have resonated with the local community, with many people sharing their view that the building is an essential community asset and should be retained in some capacity.

Mr Cooper shared those sentiments.

He told this newspaper: “The site was gifted to the NHS and has been a maternity hospital. Lots of people have memories over it and those are valuable.

"But also, this goes beyond what people's past experience was at that site. This is looking to actually provide health care within our community and for the wider communities.

"That's what we're looking to do. When people are finding it harder to get doctors’ appointments, they're spending seven plus hours in A&E because they can't see a GP. They can't see a local medical person and they don't want to bother.

"We're losing those facilities plus also respite care for local people, for carers that are looking after loved ones in their own house.”

According to the Parish Council, it ‘remains unclear’ as to how ‘any broader community feedback has been gleaned and applied to future planning’ by the Trust.

Mr Cooper stated that it is ‘impossible not to draw parallels’ with the ‘unfulfilled rebuild of Littlehampton Hospital’, which the local community ‘have not forgotten’.

He added: “As it sadly appears now, the voices and concerns of local people regarding their local services have been consistently ignored.”

The Parish Council hopes it will be able to highlight the ‘repetitive trend for lack of transparency and blatant disregard of local voices’.

On August 1, 2023, SCFT became the landlord of the Zachary Merton site, taking over responsibility for the property from NHS Property Services. The site had been used by SCFT to provide Intermediate Care for patients across Wes Sussex who required rehabilitation.

Shortly after assuming responsibility for the building, there were a ‘series of issues with the building’ which ‘seriously impacted our ability to continue to run services’, the trust said. This led to the temporary closure of the hospital as it was ‘no longer safe to continue delivering care’.

The Trust then commissioned a ‘detailed survey’ that confirmed that Zachary Merton Hospital required ‘approximately £8 million of essential works’ to bring the building up to a ‘safe and appropriate standard’ for patients and staff.

The required investment would exceed the Trust’s entire annual budget for estates improvements.

As no national capital funding is available beyond this allocation, any additional costs would need to be drawn from core funding that supports patient services. On this basis, the Trust has ‘taken the decision to progress with the sale of the hospital’.

The Trust said it has ‘continued to engage’ with public sector partners, including local health and care organisations, to ‘explore whether any other organisation may have a use’ for the site.

To date, ‘no expressions of interest’ have been received, SCFT confirmed.

Any organisation considering taking on the property ‘would also need to identify the funding required’ for the £8 million of essential safety works.

SCFT added that, in the 18 months since the closure, it has cared for six per cent more local patients, ‘when compared to the 18 months before the closure’.

Seventy-nine per cent of these patients received rehabilitation and care in their own homes, the Trust said. Patients requiring inpatient rehabilitation have continued to be supported within the Trust’s wider network of Intermediate Care Units, including Bognor War Memorial Hospital and Salvington Lodge, Worthing.