A dedicated accident and emergency department for children opened in Brighton today (Monday 9 January).
The new A&E at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital aims to assess every child within 15 minutes of arrival.
Previously children were assessed in the main A&E at the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of the trust that runs both hospitals, said: “We are particularly passionate about improving the treatment and care we offer for our youngest and our oldest patients.
“Each day around 50 children come into our A&E and this move will bring profound benefits for each of them and their families.”
The trust – Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust – said that young patients could now be assessed and cared for by fully trained paediatric staff in a setting appropriate for children.
One member of staff at the Royal Sussex said: “It can be very frightening for a child to have to go to A&E at all when they’re sick or hurt. It’s even worse on a Friday or Saturday night.
“It gets incredibly busy with people who have had too much to drink, who’ve taken drugs and of course people who’ve got some incredibly distressing injuries.
“This is definitely a change for the better.”
The children’s A&E on Level 6 of the Royal Alex is the only one of its kind in the south east outside London.
The trust said that this was a significant step forward in strengthening the Alex as a paediatric centre for the region.
