The multimillion-pound modernisation of urgent and emergency care at the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) in Brighton reached a major milestone yesterday when the longest-serving nurse in its acute assessment service officially opened its state-of-the-art new Acute Medical Unit (AMU).
Sister Gladys Gonsalves, who has worked in the service for 27 years, cut the ribbon on the new facility in front of invited local MPs, city councillors, healthcare partners and other guests. She said: “Over the years, our unit has faced many challenges and undergone significant changes, with our services continually evolving to improve patient care. Having started my career when our medical assessment services were still based in the old Barry Building, it’s incredible to see how far we’ve come and the positive impact these developments are having on the patients we look after.”
The new AMU, located on Level 5 of the Millennium Wing, is a special area of the hospital in which patients with medical conditions can be assessed, have investigations such as scans and blood tests, and get prompt treatment from specialist teams without being admitted to a ward bed. This lets them start their treatment and recovery as soon as possible and return home as soon as it’s safe for them to do so.
Alongside the new Surgical Assessment Unit that opened in 2024, the new AMU is also helping reduce pressure on the hospital’s A&E department by taking patients who would otherwise have to wait there. When it opened in 1970, the A&E department was built to manage 20-30,000 patients a year. However, it now regularly sees more than 100,000 annually.
The AMU also includes a new Medical Same Day Emergency Care unit (MSDEC), which for the first time extends 24-hour access to specialist care for patients who do not need an overnight stay. Overall, the AMU is designed to care for around 500 patients every week, by a team that includes 12 acute medical consultants, 30 other doctors, and more than 110 nurses and healthcare assistants, plus therapists, pharmacists and other supporting colleagues.
Open-heart surgery on the hospital
University Hospitals Sussex chief executive Dr Andy Heeps said: “Opening our new Acute Medical Unit is superb news for thousands of patients today, and even better for hundreds of thousands of future patients as it enables us to start renovating the main Emergency Department.
Over the next three years, we will be modernising the old and tired A&E – but as the region’s Major Trauma Centre, we cannot close the department. Instead, we must complete the building works in phases alongside our teams providing life-saving care. It’s like conducting open-heart surgery on the hospital while caring for more than 300 A&E patients every day.
“So, I do want to be candid: this is going to be a challenging time. Our staff will be working in difficult, temporary and cramped circumstances, and patients and families will also experience this. We ask for their patience and understanding, because this is the only way we can deliver the excellent urgent and emergency care facilities our patients and hard-working teams deserve.”
Chief Operating Officer and former nurse Nigel Kee agreed and praised the expertise and resilience of the hundreds of staff working on the Acute Floor. He said: “The successful delivery of SAU and AMU is down to the incredible hard work of all our clinical, project, and support teams. Their collaboration has been invaluable in getting us to this point, and I want to praise every member of staff involved for their dedication to improving care for our patients while working under such sustained pressure.”
Guests invited to the official opening included Members of Parliament from Brighton, Shoreham and Worthing, city councillors and leaders, and representatives from Healthwatch Brighton & Hove and other local health and care groups and organisations.
Chris Ward, MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven and Parliamentary Secretary in the Cabinet Office, said: “This is great news for everyone who relies on the Royal Sussex. Brighton has been crying out for a modern and expanded A&E department for years, and this is a big step towards that. I know it will be welcomed by my constituents, and it’s great to see the new Acute Medical Unit open and serving people across Sussex”
Alan Boyd, chief executive of Healthwatch Brighton & Hove, said: “Despite staff going to extraordinary lengths to provide the best care possible in difficult circumstances, Brighton’s current A&E has been struggling for years due to its failing infrastructure and size. While the Trust has used feedback from our regular site visits to improve the service where possible, fundamentally a complete overhaul of the environment is needed. So, Healthwatch welcomes the new AMU and looks forward to the new Emergency Department its opening heralds.”
Karen McDowell, Chief Executive Officer for NHS Sussex, said: “We’re proud to be investing £50 million in this new Acute Medical Unit, which will help ensure patients across Sussex can be seen, diagnosed and treated more quickly when they need urgent care.
This modern facility will mean more people can start treatment sooner and, where appropriate, return home the same day, improving both patient experience and outcomes. It’s a significant step forward in strengthening hospital care for our communities and making sure people across the region benefit from faster, more efficient services.”
Moving the acute medical assessment team into their new home has created the space within the existing ED footprint to develop temporary accommodation for the “Majors” and “Resus” (M&R) teams that look after the most critically unwell and injured people. Once these enabling works finish, phase 2 will see the M&R areas expanded and modernised to prepare them to receive patients in 2028. The final phase focuses on Patient Assessment and Triage (PAT) and the Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC), which are set for completion in 2029.
In the more immediate term, emergency care at RSCH will also be enhanced by the opening of a new rooftop helideck serving the hospital’s Major Trauma Centre, test flights for which are scheduled to begin next week. The helideck will enable emergency teams to get patients arriving from across the region in the most serious life-threatening emergencies into the hospital faster than they can now.