A HEALTHCARE group has warned the NHS is so overstretched that exceptional demand has become commonplace and warned there is no strength in depth.

The warning from David Liley, chief executive of advocacy group Healthwatch Brighton and Hove, comes after The Argus reported that a one-year old boy had to wait on a makeshift bed made of two chairs while awaiting examination at the Conquest hospital in St Leonards.

Meanwhile beds and resources are continuing to be used by relatively healthy patients who cannot be discharged because social services are not in a position to take on their cases.

Mr Liley said: "Healthwatch Brighton and Hove is aware that the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH) is exceptionally busy and likely to be at 'black alert' the highest level of demand, continuously through the winter.

"The exceptional has become common place and we see evidence of that when we talk to patients and visit the RSCH."

He stressed that it was not just hospitals which are feeling the strain, at what is traditionally a busy time of year for the NHS.

He went on: "Overwhelmingly local people recognise that all our health and care services are doing their very best with stretched resources and increasing demand.

"Over Christmas we saw the closure of another GP practice in Brighton at short notice. A GP practice serving 2600 patients gave notice of closure and relied entirely on locum cover to offer any kind of service.

"The local NHS are making every effort to provide alternative services but the reality is that the system as a whole: hospitals, GP practices and community care services are very stretched and there is no 'strength in depth'."

Although extra beds have been made available across the county, the Royal Sussex remained at "black" status last week and demand in A&E in Worthing was reported to be 21 per cent up on last year.

Mr Liley added: "Additional resources would of course help but hospitals also have the additional burden of targets that sometimes do not seem to make sense. A&E treatment time targets, for example, apply equally to someone turning up with a serious illness to someone with a streaming cold."

The Royal Sussex County Hospital was not available for comment yesterday but after the issue was raised in Prime Ministers Questions this week a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: "We recognise there are challenges the NHS is facing and those challenges are considerable."