The number of people going to accident and emergency (A&E) departments went up last month year on year, according to hospital trust figures.
NHS England figures recorded 28,521 patients visiting A&E departments run by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust in November.
These include the Royal Sussex County Hospital, the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital and the Sussex Eye Hospital, in Brighton, as well as hospitals in West Sussex.
The November figure was down from the 29,806 patients who went to A&E in October – and down from September when the number topped 30,000.
But it was up on the 23,221 patients who went to the same University Hospitals Sussex (UHS) emergency departments in November last year.
The Royal Sussex usually accounts for about 20 per cent to 25 per cent of the total number of A&E attendances across the trust.
NHS England said that 69 per cent of arrivals at UHS emergency departments were seen within four hours, compared with the national target of 95 per cent.
At a meeting of the UHS board last month, directors were told that attendances were significantly higher than before the coronavirus pandemic.
And levels of dissatisfaction had risen, from 12.8 per cent in July to 16.8 per cent in September, among patients at the trust’s hospitals in Brighton, Haywards Heath and Lewes.
