Coronavirus: The latest Developments In Sussex (Tuesday, 9)

Here’s all the coronavirus related news that’s gone on in Sussex over the last 24 hours.

As of Tuesday (June, 9) at 6am, the following figures are the known number of Covid-19 cases in each district:

East Sussex: 734

West Sussex: 1,337

Brighton and Hove: 468

Sussex: 2,539

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust Encourage Antibody Testing 

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has been running Covid-19 antibody tests at both Eastbourne EDGH and Hastings Conquest Hospitals.

Staff are being urged to come forward for the second round of staff testing and sign up via their website.

ESHT_Pathology@ESHT_Pathology

We are now running COVID19 antibody tests for @ESHTNHS staff at both #Eastbourne EDGH and #Hastings Conquest Hospitals. Now looking at the second phase of staff groups. Sign up on the website to receive your request and consent forms from @OccHealth_ESHT.#COVID19 #NHSWorkers

 Abandoned Bikes Given To NHS Staff

Bicycles abandoned at railway stations in Sussex are being used to keep NHS staff safe, and away from public transport.

More than 40 abandoned bicycles have been renovated by Bikeability instructors for NHS workers in a scheme initiated by Southern Rail.

Every month, bikes are stored at Southern’s maintenance depot in Horsham in case their owners decide to recover them.

Southern’s Community Engagement team saw the opportunity to reduce the ‘mountain’ of unclaimed bicycles, give a “thank you” to NHS workers and promote safe, sustainable travel, all at the same time.

Tom Moran, executive sponsor for the scheme at Southern’s parent company Govia Thameslink Railway, said:

“It’s really fantastic that our initiative with the Bikeability team is transforming the lives of nurses and other key NHS workers.

“We have worked directly with local NHS trusts in Sussex to match the renovated bikes with specific nurses and other health workers who will really benefit from them.

“At a time of great national challenge, we are proud to help keep Britain moving by supporting everyone who still needs to travel by rail.”

Arun District Council looks at things that could have been ‘done better’

Hindsight is a wonderful thing’ was the phrase used as Arun District Council members looked back at things they could have done better during the early weeks of the pandemic.

An inconsistency in internal and external communications, the lack of an Arun-based community hub, and being slow to make support payments to local businesses have been among criticisms aimed at the council.

At a meeting of the cabinet, Nigel Lynn, chief executive officer, said officers had been working ‘flat out to deal with day-to-day issues’, adding: “Hindsight is a clearly wonderful thing but there are some things I think we could have done better.”

Regarding the business grants he pointed out that the government had changed its guidance five times in the space of a few days ‘which didn’t help matters’ and that the council only had a certain number of staff trained to do the necessary work.

He said:

“Although we understood what the issue was, we didn’t believe there was anything we could do in the short-term to resolve that position.”