LET’S be absolutely clear about the troubles at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The perfect storm of high demand from patients and a limited number of beds and staff is to blame for the delays and every sympathy must go to the staff battling to deal with the backlog.

It is perfectly understandable that in a time of austerity belts must be tightened when it comes to public services.

But all of those in power and in management need to remember the NHS is the perfect antithesis of a cash cow. It loses money hand over fist – that is in its design.

And that is why rows over funding are always inevitably political.

The NHS was not created by the Conservative Party and critics fear they are looking to privatise it as the model of free healthcare does not obviously sit comfortably within the party’s ideology.

But the NHS needs to be there for us when we need it.

That is why it was so upsetting for the people who contacted us yesterday saying they had seen such long waits in the accident and emergency department.

At one stage, up to 23 patients were waiting to be handed over by ambulance crews and one doctor told us the situation was grossly unsafe.

Those patients needing treatment for minor health problems also found themselves in accident and emergency for more than six hours. As patients we must try to help. We are regularly told how people turn up at A&E with complaints which do not really belong there.

The least we can do is try to help alleviate the problem. We must be sensible about our own health but only go to A&E if we genuinely need to.