Brighton Royal Sussex County A&E 'not safe or well-led'

Inspectors found the hospital A&E unit was not well-managed

The safety and management of an A&E unit in Brighton have been rated "inadequate" by care inspectors.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital A&E did not always have enough capacity or nurses, a report said.

Cubicles were not consistently cleaned and checked between patients because of high patient turnover, inspectors said.

The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said management plans were in place but performance had deteriorated. The NHS trust said it was making changes.

Inspectors said many patients had to wait in the emergency department to be admitted to wards, leading to delays and overcrowding.

The CQC's deputy chief inspector of hospitals, Professor Edward Baker, said the trust had not taken all the steps it should have to tackle points raised on previous inspections.

Professor Baker said despite the best efforts of staff, the hospital was not being managed well, which affected care and staff morale.

He said new management was in place but added: "I do not feel the board has done enough."

Analysis: BBC South East health correspondent Mark Norman

Patient flow through a hospital, or rather lack of it, is a huge issue for all the region's acute hospitals.

Hundreds of people come through the doors of The Royal Sussex's A&E every day.

Patients being admitted have to have a bed but at any time there might be 50 patients fit to leave without a care package or support available. As the CQC point outs, this results in "overcrowding" in A&E.

The hospital can do more - and it says it will - but the wider NHS and the care system, already under pressure itself, also has to do more.

What shines through the CQC report though is good care. It uses the words "compassion", "dignity" and "respect" when talking about the care staff provide.

The Royal College of Nursing says staff morale is low but the nurses and care workers I spoke to told me they were a close team determined to get it right for their patients.

The hospital management are the people who have to make it happen under the intense scrutiny of both the CQC, their hard-pressed staff and us, the patients.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS chief executive Matthew Kershaw said the trust recognised the issues.

He said specialists were working alongside A&E to ensure patients were seen by the right clinical teams earlier.

Tests, treatments and therapies were being improved to help patients return home quicker, he added.

More beds had opened at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath and there would be a new community ward in Newhaven, he said.