The facility was opened as part of a \u00a362 million reconfiguration of the hospital\u2019s Acute Floor<\/a>, designed to improve patient experience and alleviate pressure on A&E.\n<\/p>\n\n Patients and staff working in the new AMU have been shocked to find that, since the move, the decision has been made to stop serving hot meals.\n<\/p>\n
\n Instead, patients are now being served cold sandwiches and tinned soup.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cleo Oland is a healthcare assistant who works as bank staff – temporary staff used across the trust to cover for maternity and sickness and in areas with increased demand.\n<\/p>\n
\n She recently worked a shift in AMU and compared the situation as akin to \u201cwartime rationing\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n The amount of time a patient spends in AMU can vary significantly, from 12 hours up to several days.\n<\/p>\n
\n She said that patients, some of whom had been in the unit for as long as four days, were not being served hot meals.\n<\/p>\n
\n This includes a patient who had suffered a stroke, one with wounds on their legs and one on end-of-life care \u2013 \u201call people who should be eating really well\u201d.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe hospital is serving sandwiches three times a day and Heinz soup for dinner,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cYou get better food in prison. All the nurses are completely shocked and in uproar.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt seems stripping back basic human needs is what funded all this furniture.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Food is so tied to health and recovery, and I just can\u2019t understand why you are feeding frail, elderly people a little sandwich.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I’m disgusted that they’re being allowed to get away with this.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI was looking after an elderly gentleman who was going to the very expensive hospital shop each day to buy food because he was still hungry, and he didn\u2019t have a mobile phone or visitors.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cAnother man had been there for four days, and his family were bringing him meal packages.\n<\/p>\n
\n “He was fortunate, but most patients don\u2019t have that kind of support. A younger patient could get Deliveroo, but it\u2019s isolating for so many patients.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The Argus has heard from a number of recent AMU patients who said it was \u201cunacceptable\u201d that they had not been offered hot meals.\n<\/p>\n
\n Nigel Kee, chief operating officer at University Hospitals Sussex Trust said: “We sincerely apologise to all patients affected by the current limitations in hot meal provision within our new acute medical unit.\n<\/p>\n
\n “The unit was established to deliver timely care, with the majority of patients either discharged or admitted to a ward within 12 hours.\n<\/p>\n
\n “During this period, patients have access to a drinks service and can request a light meal such as a sandwich or soup if required.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We recognise that, at present, many patients are experiencing longer stays than anticipated.\n<\/p>\n
\n “We are working urgently to expand access to hot meals and, at the same time, focusing on reducing waiting times.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Both of these improvements are central to enhancing the overall patient experience, and we are committed to making meaningful progress as quickly as possible.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Acute Medical Unit (AMU) in Brighton is the facility which has replaced the Acute Admissions Unit (AAU)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-320705","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}