Hospital trust explains A&E pressures following Mid Sussex MP’s call for end to 12-hour A&E waits

Liberal Democrat Alison Bennett recently told this newspaper that the Government ‘is not moving quickly enough’, saying that a Lib Dem Freedom of Information request revealed ‘the shocking crisis in our NHS’.

The announcement from Alison Bennett said University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust’s (UHSussex) records show more than 7,140 patients waited over 24 hours in A&E in one year (2025).

UHSussex has apologised but said long waits reflect pressures across the health and care system, adding that its staff work ‘incredibly hard’ to provide care. It added that the majority of patients do not wait this long. It also said the number of patients waiting over 24 hours in the Trust’s emergency departs in 2025 fell year-on-year by nearly a third, following improvements made in response to an increased demand for care.

Mrs Bennett, said: “When I talk to people across Mid Sussex they tell me about their experiences of waiting in A&E.

“There was the elderly couple whose GP sent them to A&E at the Princess Royal, they had to wait for eight hours only to be told that the right specialist is not based at the hospital and were sent home again. Then there was a man whose health concerns were dismissed several times until he took it upon himself to travel to another hospital forty miles away where he was finally listened to.”

The MP also said hospitals are under pressure with ‘corridor care’ – which is not the same as a 24-hour wait in A&E – becoming ‘normalised’.

She said: “The consequence of that is poorer experiences for people when they are sick and need help.”

A UHSussex spokesperson told this newspaper: “We are very sorry that some patients experience long waits in our emergency departments, especially during exceptionally busy periods.

“Our staff work incredibly hard to provide safe care and longer A&E waits reflect pressures not just in our hospitals, but across the entire health and care system.

“We are working closely with health and social care partners across Sussex, not only to improve processes within our hospitals, but also to reduce delays by minimising unnecessary admissions and supporting more people to receive care in the community where appropriate.”

The announcement from Mrs Bennett also said the average hospital trust now sees almost 3,000 patients wait more than 24 hours in A&E each year. The announcement added that new national data from the BMJ shows more than 13,000 patients waited over three days in England’s emergency departments.

In January, Mrs Bennett supported a bill put forward by Health Spokesperson Helen Morgan to enshrine a legal right for patients to be protected from corridor care and admitted to A&E within 12 hours, creating a statutory duty for ministers to deliver it.

UHSussex has said health and care colleagues from across the local system are working together to respond to increased demands for care. Examples from within in its hospitals include: moving patients needing a bed from A&E onto wards earlier, opening a new Surgical Assessment Unit in Brighton, changes to surgery and medical pathways to increase efficiency and to make sure operations take place earlier in the day, and longer term work to deliver a £50m investment in the Emergency Department in Brighton.