"I just don't think you get it. The NHS doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to us politicians. It belongs to these people here."

Around 900 residents, hospital staff and politicians of every type and party crammed into the available seats while hundreds more gathered around speakers in Steyne Gardens where proceedings were being relayed live.

There, an emotive crowd gathered, keen to make their feelings known.

Still in her uniform, Abbie Faulkes, 42, a junior sister in intensive care, found a place in the gardens to display a huge banner pleading "Don't W.A.S.H us away".

She said: "I wanted to hear what they had to say, there is a lot of uncertainty at the moment, and I think we should be told the truth.

"I know people will lose their lives if they don't have our facilities, and obviously I'm concerned for my job too."

Whether sitting or standing the sea of supporters waved their placards high in the air as Worthing Mayor, Major Tom Wye, chairing the meeting, introduced the evening's speakers.

Slogans read, "Tell government life is priceless" and "No hospital, No A and E, No way!" and aptly summed up the mood of a people not ready to give up without a fight.

Inside the sweltering theatre, Mr Wye brought one of the largest cheers of the evening when he read out Worthing Council's unanimously agreed motion in support of the hospital.

It said "The town deserves and requires improved medical facilities" and that the council would "resist, by any legal means, the closure or downgrading of any facilities."

The motion called for all decision-making bodies within the NHS to ensure money was moved to Worthing "so that doctors and nurses can continue to dedicate their skills and care to local patients of all ages."

Mr Wye revealed the office of Patricia Hewitt, Secretary of State for Health, had emailed deputy council leader Anne Barlow to say she was out of the country and could not attend, adding that no representative would be sent.

Candy Morris, chief executive of the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority, said she appreciated the strength of feeling regarding the threats but said changing health needs meant the way healthcare is provided must change.

She said, where appropriate, people wanted to be treated closer to home or in the home, but emphasised change as "not about making services less safe".

Steve Phoenix, chief executive of Arun, Adur and Worthing Primary Care Trust, tried to quell fears that key decisions had already been taken.

He said: "No decisions have been made. No agreements have been reached. No deals have been done. We are at the beginning of a journey, not at the end of a journey."

He added that funding for managers in West Sussex was to be reduced by five to six million pounds.

Tim Loughton described Sussex's general treatment by central government as "a raw deal" and pointed to NHS funding in the north of England as equating to 1,450 per person, compared with 1,250 per person in Sussex.

He spoke of the "added pressures" in Worthing of the high elderly population, its status as the largest town in West Sussex and the requirement for 58,000 new homes here in the next few years.

Mr Loughton said the loss of accident and emergency would lead to a "death by a thousand cuts" and the eventual closure of the hospital as services were steadily stripped away.

Representatives from Lancing, Adur and Littlehampton all stood and spoke in support of the hospital.

And consultants and other staff and specialists at the hospital urged Mr Phoenix and Ms Morris to recognise its value and the potential harm of cuts.

One described the reassurances about alternative forms of healthcare as "smoke and mirrors" and said there were thousands of people who could not do without acute hospital care.

A stream of locals stood and spoke of their experiences, from cancer survivors to road crash victims to families of

people still dependent on its services.

Often, the responses of Mr Phoenix and Ms Morris were met with jeers and heckling as the crowd grew restless at a perceived lack of real answers.

Some felt talk of "changes and challenges" meant one thing - cuts. More than once, voices called out "you can go private".

Both MPs ended the evening promising to keep the pressure on central government and they urged Ms Morris to to do the same to redress the funding balance.

Nick Herbert, Arundel and South Downs MP, concluded by saying: "I thank you for attending this meeting and the many private meetings, but I just don't think you get it.

"The NHS doesn't belong to you. It doesn't belong to us politicians. It belongs to these people here.

"The people are entitled to know what you are proposing and what you are discussing."

"If you take one message home tonight, and I mean this, you must consult and listen to the people."