Wet and windy weather is causing “farcical” scenes as patients are transferred from one part of a hospital to another.

A visitor to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton witnessed porters trying to force faulty lift doors closed against strong winds during the storms.

The layout of the hospital also means transferring patients between the newer blocks and the older Barry building is difficult in bad weather.


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Joy Ashton, from Telscombe Cliffs, contacted The Argus about the problems after she paid several visits to the hospital.

She said: “When the winds are ‘too strong’ the door of the lift shaft in the Thomas Kemp tower won’t close properly and therefore the lift won’t operate above Level 5, so you have the porters trying desperately to push the doors shut, one inside, the other outside.

“To add further to the problem the patient has to cross an exit road at an extremely acute angle from the new wing to the older Barry Building where the MRI scanner and other facilities are situated.

“At this point, when it is wet and windy, extra porters are positioned to push the trolley up the steep incline and at the other end to stop trolley and patient gathering speed and careering into the building, while fighting wind and rain.

“If you were not dealing with patients who are very unwell and often in a great deal of pain this would be considered a scene from a farce and you would stand back and laugh.

“This problem must have caused a great deal of discomfort and anguish to the many thousands this has affected over the years, so why can’t it be fixed?”

Aspokesman for the Royal Sussex said: “We apologise for the problem with the public lifts in the Thomas Kemp Tower.

“This is caused by high wind pressure that has prevented the lifts from working properly and engineers are working to fix the problem.

“We do have separate lifts that are not for public use to allow patients to be transported within the tower and these are not affected by the winds.

“These can be used when necessary as an alternative to the public lifts.

“We are fully aware of the issues with transporting patients to the Barry Building and these will be addressed within the proposed hospital redevelopment.”