Something is seriously wrong with worker relations in part of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

Staff in the medical records department are facing allegations from managers that they behaved inappropriately towards colleagues.

But the two staff members and the GMB union, in turn, claim there is a culture of bullying and harassment at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

The department is threatening to walk out and the unions may ballot hundreds of members on strike action.

It is hard for outsiders to work out the rights and wrongs of this bitter dispute, which has disrupted good relations at the hospital and threatens to affect patients.

But it is clear that feelings are running high on both sides and that the current dispute is only one of many grievances.

The trust does have a strict policy on bullying and harassment, which is no more than should be expected in such a large and complex organisation.

It is not easy running the NHS at a big hospital in Brighton with little money and where staff are stretched.

But trust managers should try to sort out this festering problem with staff and the union before it gets worse and poisons more industrial relations.