SEXUAL assault, arson, threats to kill and racial abuse are among the hundreds of crimes reported by hospitals across Sussex.

A Freedom of Information request reveals cases have risen by more than a third in a year as health bosses work with Sussex Police to tackle incidents at the county’s hospitals.

Other allegations include possession of a knife, harassment and possession of drugs.

The most common allegations were for theft, public order offences and common assault.

A rape allegation was also reported at Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath, although this was not alleged to have happened at the hospital itself.

Information from Sussex Police shows officers dealt with 324 reports of various crimes between April and the end of March compared to 241 for the previous 12 months.

Several of the incidents are linked to people who were drunk or on drugs and often happened during peak times for the hospitals, such as Friday nights and weekends.

Most call outs were to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, the busiest in Sussex, where there were 79 reported incidents.

Hospital bosses say the number of police calls is low compared to the thousands of people coming and going every day but every incident was treated seriously.

A Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals’ spokesman said: “Our trust does not tolerate any type of crime and all incidents of crime are investigated and reported to the police.

“We have preventative measures in place across all of our hospital sites, including on-site in-house security officers, CCTV and access door controls.

“All staff receive advice and training on maintaining hospital security and protecting valuable equipment and personal possessions from theft.”

East Sussex Healthcare head of security John Kirk said: “We take security very seriously and operate a zero tolerance policy encouraging staff to report all incidents of crime. “We also have a resident 24-hour security guard service with patrol car which responds to all incidents within the trust.”

Inspector Dave Shepard, from Sussex Police, said: “We work very closely with hospitals across the county, not only on the relatively small number of crimes that occur in them, but also in our day-to-day work on other matters.”

GMB organiser Gary Palmer said trusts needed to do everything they could to further invest in measures to ensure public, patients and staff as well as property were fully protected.

Healthwatch East Sussex director Julie Fitzgerald said they would be asking trusts how they were working to ensure patients and their families felt safe when using services

BACKGROUND

Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton: 79 incidents including 29 thefts, eight assaults and one racial abuse.

Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath: 22 incidents including eight thefts and one case of harassment.

Worthing Hospital: 71 incidents including 18 thefts and nine assaults causing injuries.

Eastbourne DGH: 73 incidents including 24 thefts, one sexual assault and 14 assaults without injury.

St Richard’s, Chichester: 31 incidents including 10 thefts and four public order offences.

Conquest Hospital, St Leonards: 41 incidents including 13 thefts and seven assaults with injury.

Seven incidents in total reported at Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, Brighton, and Southlands Hospital, Shoreham.