A third of hospital workers in Sussex say they have seen potentially harmful mistakes and near misses in the past month.

More than a third also say they have suffered work related stress over the last year.

The information emerged as part of a national NHS staff survey held to get people’s views on how they felt about where they work.

Questions ranged from asking people’s views about whether they would recommend their hospital as a place to be treated and whether they felt valued.

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Just over 90% of workers at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust agreed their role made a difference to patients and 76% were satisfied with the quality of patient care they were able to offer.

However 41% of staff questioned reported witnessing errors and near misses, well above the national average of 29%.

Just under 45% suffered stress.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust found 70% of staff were satisfied with their quality of work but 43% had experienced stress and 28% had witnessed mistakes.

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust had the highest satisfaction rate of 79%.

Around 35% said they had seen errors and had suffered stress.

More than a quarter of staff at all three trusts said they had experienced harassment, bullying and abuse from other members of staff.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals chief executive Matthew Kershaw said: “We are committed to ensuring our staff are given the opportunity, encouragement and support to do their job to the best of their ability and to ensure they feel their contribution is recognised and valued.

“The results from latest NHS staff survey shows there are areas where we are doing well, with many being above the national benchmark.

“The survey has also shown some areas where our staff feel we need to do better and we will focus on these over the coming year and work is already under way with input from staff to try to address the issues raised and find ways to make improvements.”

East Sussex Healthcare chief executive Darren Grayson said: “The last year has been a particularly challenging one for both the NHS nationally and for the trust.

“The results of the survey will be used to help us concentrate our efforts to improve and we will be developing plans to achieve this.

“Given the challenges facing the organisation over the past year, I don’t think our results are a surprise.”