A disabled hospital patient has claimed he was “assaulted” by a surgeon.

The patient was at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath when he said he was physically assaulted in front of nurses.

The man said he was complaining about being in too early for his appointment when the surgeon turned towards him.

“I was assaulted by a surgeon who screamed at me,” the patient said.

The man, who asked not to be named, said he was upset about being called in early for his surgery when the male surgeon turned to him.

He said: “He got half way down the corridor and then came back and stood next to me, bearing in mind I’m in a wheelchair.

The patient said the surgeon then “bashed” him on the chest repeatedly with his fingers. He said the surgeon screamed at him and called him “ungrateful”.

The man said security staff were called and came to speak to him and when he explained what had happened he was also spoken to by the nurses.

“They got three security officers to deal with me,” he said.

xhead The patient said he has decided not to take his complaint further until he has met with Matthew Kershaw, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, which runs the Princess Royal Hospital.

The Argus was initially informed about an incident by a source at the hospital.

A spokeswoman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospital said: “An allegation has been made against a member of our staff and this will be fully investigated through the proper process.”

She added that hospital bosses had consulted Sussex Police about the incident as per their safeguarding guidelines, and that they did not consider it to be an assault so would be investigating it internally.

The Princess Royal Hospital was found to be meeting all but one of the standards set by the Care Quality Commission in their last report.

The category which states people should be cared for in safe and accessible surroundings that support their health and welfare was deemed to require improvement in the May 2013 inspection.