Enter and View Report: Sussex Eye Hospital, April 2026

Sussex Eye Hospital

On 29th April 2026, between 10am - 2pm, four trained and DBS-checked Healthwatch volunteers visited Sussex Eye Hospital at the Royal Sussex Hospital, alongside two members of the Healthwatch Brighton and Hove staff team and one member of the Healthwatch West Sussex team. 

We were asked by the University Hospitals Sussex (UHSx) Trust to carry out an Enter and View of the Sussex Eye Hospital as the Trust is in the process of initiating a new, clinically led strategic review of ophthalmology services. In line with national goals, the Trust is reviewing hospital services to identify where care would be better provided in the community, or where it is clinically appropriate to transition inpatient care to day-case or outpatient environments. Ophthalmology is the next service to undergo this formal review, prioritised from among 50 different clinical specialties within the Trust. 

UHSx is also aware of concerns over the precarious nature of the 91-year-old building that the Sussex Eye Hospital is based in. The Sussex Eye Hospital opened in 1935 and now faces critical challenges that pose an immediate risk to the services. For example, this has recently involved having to temporarily close operating theatres at the hospital to facilitate the refurbishment of a lift.

The Trust are planning to survey all patients who have used ophthalmology services over the past two years to gather evidence on patient priorities. Healthwatch Brighton and Hove and Healthwatch West Sussex agreed to schedule three Enter and View inspections of ophthalmology departments across Sussex to support this work. This report details the visit to the Sussex Eye Hospital only and separate reports will be produced by Healthwatch West Sussex for Southlands and St Richard’s Hospitals.  

Key Findings 

Our visit to Sussex Eye Hospital reveals an overall positive picture but has identified some areas that require improvements. We spoke to 41 patients for their views about the department and proposals to move some eye services into community settings. 

• 78% of patients we spoke to rated their overall experience at the Sussex Eye Hospital as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’, 16% of patients rated their experience as ‘average’. Nobody rated their overall experience as poor or very poor.  
• The impact of waiting times for eye care/ treatments was the most concerning aspect of our findings. 40% (6 people) of those who were on, or had been on waiting lists for treatment, told us that they had experienced ‘considerable deterioration’ in their vision whilst waiting whilst 47% (7 people) told us that they had experienced ‘some deterioration’ in their vision whilst waiting.  
• Patients were generally positive about the potential move of some hospital eye services to community settings but wanted levels of care to remain at the same quality as current hospital provision, and to be delivered in a location that is convenient for them.  
• Our Enter and View Environmental Audit identified positive aspects in all the three areas we visited. It also raised some recommendations for improvements. Our volunteers commented, “The whole department appeared extremely clean and tidy which is commendable given the challenges associated with the older building”. 

Thank you 

Healthwatch would like to express its thanks to University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust for inviting and facilitating our visit. Particular thanks go to Jaymie Gallero, Nancy Eurecial and Cathy Offer for welcoming us into the Hospital and supporting our visit on the day.  

Our sincerest thanks also go, as always, to our volunteers who supported our visit: Conor, Bharti, Sue and Lynne.