I cannot believe the outrageous comment from Stuart Welling following Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust being awarded only one star (The Argus, July 17).

How dare he blame seriously ill patients and bed blocking for the worsening of service? It isn't patients' fault the trust is going downhill.

It is about time Mr Welling accepted responsibility. As chief executive, the buck stops with him.

From my own experience as a patient at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, I am not surprised the trust has only a one star rating.

I am waiting to have an MRI scan but have been told there is up to a six-month waiting list. Waiting that long just for diagnosis is simply not good enough.

The trust has got its priorities seriously wrong. If it had fewer paper-pushing managers and more clinicians, maybe standards would rise.

As it is, it has to spend so much time and money on government targets that patients are not given the priority they deserve.

A hospital should treat patients whenever needed, not give its political masters headline-grabbing statistics.

-Carol Ramsden, Brighton