What makes the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton better than Worthing Hospital? Why are the quality of services at Eastbourne District General Hospital good while those at St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester are weak? For the tens of thousands of patients who use the Hospitals every year, it is the care and treatment they receive that is more important than anything else.

Obviously anything that monitors hospitals, keeps them up to standard and ensures they are performing well is important.

Obviously those hospitals who have improved their ratings will be celebrating their success while those whose standards appear to have fallen are not particularly happy.

But how much of a difference is there really between these hospitals? Look behind the headlines and a different story emerges.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, saw his hospital’s rating for quality care, which assesses how well the trust is meeting national standards like MRSA rates, cleanliness and privacy and dignity, drop from excellent in 2007-08 to good in 2008-09.

Yet overall the trust actually performed better in terms of hitting targets last year compared with the year before.

The one area where it was marked down was for bed-blocking patients, which is an issue involving the wider community and not just the hospital.

He said: “It is quite frustrating.

“We improved our A&E performance to be the best performing of its type in England when it comes to meeting the four-hour waiting time target.

“We reduced the number of MRSA and clostridium difficile infections by more than 40% and met the 18 week waiting time target ahead of time. Yet somehow we are told we are not doing as well as we did the year before.”

The trust’s hospitals also have some of the best survival rates for patients in the country but this is not covered in the ratings.

Mr Selbie said: “I am not saying that the hospitals are perfect. I have dealt with complaints and I know we don’t get everything right.

“I know there are areas where we need to improve.

“In the end it is the experience patients have while being at our hospitals that is what I would prefer to be measured on.”

Part of the problem the trust has faced is caused by the old and dilapidated buildings at the Royal Sussex.

The Barry building itself is more than 180 years old and its cramped dark corridors and need for constant maintenance are no longer suitable for 21st century hospital care.

However, a £400 million plan has been drawn up to pull down and replace the buildings as part of a major redevelopment of the hospital site.

The aim is to create a major trauma and critical care centre for Sussex and the South East.

Mr Selbie said: “These buildings hinder our efforts to provide dignified and compassionate care at every turn.

“Realising our plans will enable us to redirect the energy it takes to work with such an inadequate infrastructure and will ultimately improve the experience of every person who walks through the front door.”

St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester has consistently had a good rating for the last three years but this year it dropped down to weak.

The main reason for this was because of a poor performance when it came to administration and waiting time for its bariatric service, which provides weight loss treatments for patients such as gastric-band surgery.

It is an important service, but for the hospital to be branded as weak overall because of this when other departments are doing well seems a little harsh.

The tens of thousands of people who campaigned to save the hospital services at St Richard’s, which were put under threat by the Fit for the Future proposals, show much it is respected.

They would not consider it weak. Those who battled for Worthing Hospital to keep its services might also think their hospital deserves to be branded a bit higher than fair.

Not every patient is always going to be satisfied. Tragic mistakes can be made, wards can become dirty and untidy at times and there are occasions when the care provided at a Sussex hospital is not going to be up to standard.

All of these, quite rightly, need to be addressed because they are deeply important to the families and patients involved and should not be happening.