Emergency staff have been offered reassurance by hospital trust chief executive George Findlay after a critical official inspection.
Dr Findlay, who recently took over at University Hospitals Sussex, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, wrote to staff about the Care Quality Commission (CQC) findings.
The CQC has rated the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Department at the Royal Sussex as “requires improvement” – down from “good”.
But Dr Findlay said that the £485 million revamp of the Royal Sussex – known as the 3Ts project – will help tackle some of the problems.
He said: “The CQC … carried out an unannounced inspection of urgent and emergency services at (the Royal Sussex County Hospital).
“The rating of urgent and emergency services at (the Royal Sussex) in the ‘safe’ domain has been lowered from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.
“These services are still rated ‘good’ in the ‘effective’, ‘caring’ and ‘well led’ domains but were already seen as requiring improvement on the ‘responsive’ measure.
“With two of the five domains now at this level, their overall rating will now also change from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.
“I understand why the CQC have chosen to lower the service’s rating but it is important to see that decision more as a consequence of the physical and systemic challenges we know the department faces than as a reflection on the skill or dedication of the people who work there.
“Issues of the nature of the emergency department environment, the pressures of patient flow, staffing difficulties and the sheer numbers of people now coming through its doors are anything but simple to resolve.
“However, overcoming them is a key focus of our new clinical operating model, our forthcoming clinical strategy and our capital investment planning, with the transformative 3Ts redevelopment at its heart.”
