Recently the Medical Centre has been hit by vandalism, mainly
(but not exclusively) on Fridays and Saturdays, late at night or
early in the morning. Our CCTV cameras and external lamps have
been damaged, our plant pots, letterbox and deposit and meter box
have been damaged and the porch and surrounding grounds have
been littered with bottles, cans, broken glass, cigarette ends,
matches, cards and general rubbish. All this damage costs
hundreds of pounds to repair.

We have advised the police and they are taking action on our behalf.

There is a more important issue. The people damaging your Medical
Centre are probably our patients and their families. We strive to
provide modern comfortable facilities where local people can be
helped to overcome illness. We have cared for and continue to care
for the people damaging your Medical Centre!

By the nature of the bottles and cans we find, we believe that the
vandals are drinking spirits and beer/lager. We also believe they are
too young to legally buy alcohol. Either way it is highly likely that
they are damaging their health by drinking alcohol in inappropriate
quantities because it’s ‘cool’ to do so.

In fact, twenty years of research shows that use of alcohol before
the brain is fully adult, age 20 or 21, causes long-term and possibly
irreversible damage. One study has indicated that alcohol abuse
may shrink teens’ brains – specifically the part that handles memory
and learning.

Please help us. If you are suspicious of any activity in our
grounds please call Sussex Police on the following number
and report what you have seen: 0845 6070999.

If you are a parent of teenagers in the village, please check out
whether your children are damaging their health through drinking
alcohol, or whether they are out late at night damaging your
Medical Centre.

Many thanks.
GPs and Staff at the Henfield Medical Centre