Hospital staff join protests over changes

Workers at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath believe the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton will find it difficult to cope with the extra demand.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is proposing to send patients from Mid Sussex with multiple injuries straight to the Royal Sussex instead of the nearer Princess Royal.

Managers say it means patients will get quicker access to the specialist services available in Brighton.

The suggestion has sparked fears the accident and emergency department at the Princess Royal could be downgraded to a minor injuries unit.

One worker said the Royal Sussex was already working flat out and no consideration had been given to the excessive trauma workload the Princess Royal often faced.

She said: "If a patient has serious head injuries does that mean they will go down to Brighton and then have to be transferred all the way back to Haywards Heath where the neurological department is based?"

Hospital managers are planning to split orthopaedics so all emergency cases are dealt with at Brighton and all routine ones in Haywards Heath.

Staff say that would mean many older people with knee and hip problems living on the coast would have to travel further for surgery.

The proposals are part of a consultation called Best Care Best Place, which is looking at a shake-up of hospital, GP and community NHS services in Brighton and Hove and Mid Sussex.

A trust spokeswoman said: "We have no secret plans and certainly no plan to replace A&E at the Princess Royal with a minor injuries unit.

"Major capital investment in the Royal Sussex will turn it into a hospital that can certainly cope with more trauma than it handles at the moment."

"The number of patients we expect to transfer from the Princess Royal is relatively small in number - some 1,480 per year.

"At the same time we would expect some 3,720 patients needing routine operations to move from Brighton to Haywards Heath."