- Written by Mark Norman & Rosie Brandt
- BBC News, South East
Hospital chief executive said staff were working under ‘huge’ pressure
General surgery staff at Brighton’s Royal Sussex County Hospital were told to “sit, be silent and listen” during meetings, a report has revealed.
An investigation by the Royal College of Surgeons found the surgical department operated in a “culture of fear” with bullying and harassment from management.
Concerns were also raised regarding the situation of patients.
Royal Sussex’s chief executive said the trust was making improvements.
The report was commissioned by the hospital in May 2023 to the Royal Sussex University Department of General Surgery, with a particular focus on upper gastrointestinal, lower gastrointestinal and emergency general surgery.
It said teams working in these departments were “dysfunctional”, reputational and cultural issues were affecting staff morale and there was a “relative sense of hopelessness”.
The report said senior staff were treated in a “condescending and disrespectful” manner and two staff members were physically assaulted.
He was also reluctant to “accept whistleblowing requests”.
“I’ve been waiting for hours.”
Dr George Findlay, chief executive of University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, said he recognized the report was “very difficult to read”.
But he said the hospital had “worked really hard” to help people voice their concerns.
Dr Findlay said the trust would “continue to improve”.
The report said the impact on patients was significant due to the surgery’s “high volume of complaints” and “high cancellation rate”.
This was “in many cases on the day of surgery, after patients had prepared for the surgery by refraining from eating and drinking, and had waited up to seven hours.”
Dr Findlay said staff were working “under tremendous pressure”, which “is not what we want for our patients”.
He said the trust would open a new assessment facility for “acutely unwell surgical patients” later this year and look at how patients could access surgery in a “more timely” manner.
He added: “We need to look to the future and continue to make improvements that are better for our staff and better for our patients.”
Sussex Police previously said it was investigating allegations of medical negligence following alleged failures in neurosurgery and general surgery.