CASES brought by two individuals amount for the vast majority of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust spending on race-related employment tribunals, The Argus understands.

It is believed the individuals are both members of the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Network at the Trust and their claims account for around 90 per cent of the Trust's spending over the past decade.

The trust declined to comment on that figure, citing normal procedure for employees, but it is believed the trust has lost one of the cases.

There is mounting concern over the Trust's estimated £1.4-million and rising bill for race-related employment tribunals during that period, which comes out of its own budget rather than being covered by the NHS Litigation Authority.

Yesterday (Wednesday) The Argus reported how four Asian doctors who had brought a claim for racial discrimination were ordered to pay more than £17,000 each towards the Trust's more than £130,000 costs after the judge struck out their claims and concluded they had been "unreasonable".

Jonathan Isaby, chair of the Taxpayers Alliance, said it was important that tribunal claims were "taken seriously and investigated properly, but they all amount to big bills for taxpayers".

He added: "If some employees have consistent cause to bring claims then the Trust should work harder to improve its HR practices, but if there are vexatious claims made against the Trust then this must be stamped out.

"A compensation culture is endemic across the public sector and this is not good for management, staff or the taxpayers who pay for it all."

Relations are increasingly strained between the BME Network and the Trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital, with the network launching a petition calling on trust leaders to stand down, saying that BME people there are harassed and victimised. The online petition so far has 602 supporters.

The Trust has refuted those claims, saying it commits "substantial resources" to racial equality and "it believes that the purported facts which are being used to justify the petition being circulated have been selectively assembled to create an inaccurate impression".

At an extraordinary meeting called by the BME Network last month, a show of hands from more than 50 attendees supported a vote of no confidence in the trust, with staff members recounting tales of seeing discrimination at the hospital.

BME Network members at the meeting said they also wanted to support the group's chair, Dr Vivienne Lyfar-Cissé, a bio-chemist who is understood to be off work sick. She could not be reached for comment by The Argus.