Share review of Worthing Hospital

Worthing Hospital 2025-08-19 Person 1 5 0

Sunday 17th Aug 2025 my husband was sent there by 111 to get a blood test after becoming seriously ill after foreign travel . When we got there it was not busy but we ended up leaving 5 hours later without having seen a Dr so we told reception to send the blood test results to the GP. The reason we left was not the long wait but the conditions in the waiting area. There were not enough seats it was standing room only, and in my opinion no consideration of risk to other patients. In particular apart from my husband who we thought might be a risk to others there were two individual patients - women who were so clearly very ill were lying on the four both running back and forth to the toilet every half hour to be sick. The toilet is so close to the waiting area and the walls were so thin that everyone could here the poor things reaching and being violently sick. This was continual for both of them, sometimes they had to be sick in a disposable bowl in the waiting room, they were not given any privacy and were treated without dignity. If their sickness was contagious it would have spread to every person in the waiting room which was overflowing. At one point one lady asked for a blanket and covered her whole head and body as she lay exhausted on the floor. No member of staff when calling names came to check if she was even alive. Thank goodness children do not have to wait in same area, because they would have been horrified. More and more people came to stand in what little space remained, on average maybe one person an hour was called although, triage was done quite quickly in each case. The next day we could see on record that the hospital had not even done the correct blood test advised by 111. So we went to the GP surgery and explained symptoms and was told the information would be sent to the Dr. Before we got home we had a call to say the GP would be calling back which he did. He requested us go back for a blood test and to go in the back door to avoid potential contamination and he did the blood test himself in Protective mask and gown. I can understand the practicalities of having the Urgent treatment Centre next to A & E but there needs to be adequate seating, and side rooms for people who are vomitting.