Sussex Hospital cancels operations

21 September 2010, 14:54 | Updated: 21 September 2010, 15:03

Sussex's largest hospital has been forced to cancel admissions and operations today. The RSCH had 25 per cent more patients than expected yesterday and has run out of beds.

Here's the Hospital's statement

Statement from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust’s Chief of Clinical Operations, Dr Jo Andrews

“We took the difficult decision to reschedule some non-emergency operations at the Royal Sussex County Hospital this morning in order to ensure safe levels of care for both the patients already in our hospitals and those we anticipate needing emergency admission today.

“The number of people requiring emergency admission to hospital yesterday was 25% higher than expected, and exceeded the number of beds available. 

In order to ensure we are able to provide all the services our patients normally receive at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, including admission for non-emergency surgery, we need to make sure that the patients who no longer require our care are safely discharged. 

“We are working closely with all our community healthcare partners to achieve this as quickly as possible, and are continuing to operate all our emergency and outpatient services as normal. We are also working hard to reschedule all cancelled operations, and accommodate the patients affected over the coming days.”