Royal Sussex County Hospital adult A and E urgent care review

Healthwatch is the official consumer ‘watchdog’ for health and social care in Brighton and Hove. This report explores the experiences of 50 people using the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) Accident and Emergency Department (A&E) in January 2018 during known busy times, Sunday morning and Monday evening.

In their survey sample, 27 people were using the Urgent Care Centre (UCC), 21 people were using the ‘Majors’ area and in the case of two people, the care area was unspecified. Healthwatch volunteers and staff conducting this review observed high quality care by dedicated NHS staff and received many comments from patients and families praising nurses, doctors and other hospital staff.

The main findings included; Of the patients we interviewed, 27 patients were being treated in the UCC and 12 (44%) of these people were ‘streamed’ to be seen by a GP based in A&E. No one being treated in the Majors area was streamed to see a GP. The new ‘GP streaming’ service for UCC was introduced at the RSCH in November 2017, and seems to have been received well by patients. Only two from 3 the 12 patients treated by a PCFD GP said they would have preferred to see a hospital doctor. The majority of people attending A&E did not approach their GP before visiting A&E (33 people, 66% did not consult their GP). However, this means that 17 people (34%) had already consulted their GP.

The report contains 13 recommendations with the main theme around access.