New children’s A&E for Worthing Hospital

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust is investing the money to create a new dedicated area for children within the existing A and E department at the Lyndhurst Road hospital. 

Construction work on the project, which has now started and is expected to take a year to complete, will see the creation of four new treatment rooms and a dedicated children’s resuscitation bay.

A dedicated plaster room and an interactive play area within the dedicated children’s waiting room, will also be built.

The new children’s A and E will be completely separate from the adult treatment and waiting areas and will be staffed by children’s nurses.

Trust chief executive Marianne Griffiths said: “This is a fantastic example of the trust’s continuing focus on improving our services for patients.

“We are all looking forward to this work being completed so that children and their carers will have an even better quality experience when they need to use our A&E at Worthing.”

Currently, the A and E department treats around 16,000 patients annually, and in recent years, the number of children visiting has increased.

The existing department has only one room dedicated to the treatment of children, who often have to share facilities with adults.

The trust said the aim of the build is to create an enhanced environment for all children who come to A and E, and to improve both the quality of care they receive and their experience as patients.