AN under-pressure hospital has revealed it does not have enough beds to cope with demand.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has 1,004 beds but says it needs another 46 to make sure it has enough capacity.

The hospital has come under consistently high pressure as it copes with high numbers of patients while dealing with a lack of available beds. This is often due to delays in people being discharged because there is no community bed for them in the city or because a package of support has to be arranged for them in their own homes.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust’s annual plan says the need for more beds rises even more sharply at peak times over winter.

The trust needed almost 100 extra beds at the Royal Sussex and Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath in December, January and February.

Bed shortages have a knock-on effect across the hospital, with long waits in accident and emergency departments and cancelled operations. The trust says plugging the gap is a top priority and it is now carrying out a review to see how it can be done.

This includes looking for ways to cut the length of time people stay in hospital and reduce the number of patients admitted.

The second is to find out ways to swap services and departments to create extra beds at the Royal Sussex and clear its congestion.

The annual plan says: “A capacity mobilisation group has been formed and are working at pace to review all options to increase the inpatient footprint at the Royal Sussex. Each potential additional development will be assessed on the timeframe and costs of delivery.”

Work being done includes opening up extra beds at Newhaven for patients waiting to be discharged and liaising with clinical commissioning groups to get more rehabilitation beds in the community.

A two-month review is assessing demand for inpatient care and identifying all beds available in the hospital and elsewhere.