Royal Sussex: Culture of fear exists in surgery, report finds

The hospital's chief executive said staff had been working under "huge" pressure

General surgery staff at Brighton's Royal Sussex County Hospital were told to "sit down, shut up and listen" in meetings, a report has found.

An investigation by Royal College of Surgeons said the surgery department was operating in "a culture of fear" where bullying and harassment from management was rife.

Concerns were also flagged around conditions for patients.

Royal Sussex's chief executive said the trust was making improvements.

The report was commissioned by the hospital in May 2023 into the general surgery department at Royal Sussex, with a specific focus on upper gastrointestinal, lower gastrointestinal and emergency general surgery.

It said team working in these departments was "dysfunctional" and there was a "feeling of relative hopelessness," with reputational and cultural issues affecting staff morale.

Senior staff were "dismissive and disrespectful," the report said, and two staff had allegedly been physically assaulted.

There was also a reluctance "to respond to whistleblowing requests".

'Waiting for hours'

Dr George Findlay, chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said he recognised the report was "a really tough read".

But he said the hospital had "really worked hard" to make sure people were able to raise concerns.

Dr Findlay said the trust would "continue to make improvements"

The report said the impact on patients was significant with a "high volume of complaints" and "high rates of cancellations" for surgery.

This was "often on the day of surgery, after patients had been waiting for up to seven hours, having prepared for surgery, for example, by not eating and/or drinking", it added.

Dr Findlay said staff had been working "under huge pressures", which was "not what we would want for our patients".

He said later this year, the trust would be opening a new assessment facility for "acutely unwell surgical patients" and would review how patients could access surgery "in a more timely fashion".

He added: "We now need to look to the future and continue to make improvements to make it better for our staff, better for our patients."

A police investigation into deaths at Royal Sussex between 2015 to 2020 is ongoing and in September was expanded to include 2021.

Sussex Police previously said it was looking into claims of medical negligence after alleged failings in in neurosurgery and general surgery.

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