A hospital trust has defended itself against a report showing it had more cancelled operations than almost anywhere else in the country.

Figures obtained by the Conservatives show there were 3,652 operations called off at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust last year.

This was the third highest in England, with only hospitals in Kingston, Surrey, and York having higher numbers.

The survey found 355 patients at the Brighton trust had their operation cancelled more than once, the fifth highest in the country, while one patient had theirs called off five times.

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust reported 197 cancellations while St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester had 324.

The figures refer to operations for non-clinical reasons, including a shortage of beds, missing patient records, staffing issues and a lack of equipment.

Brighton and Sussex reported 1,157 cancellations were due to staffing, 470 because an emergency operation took priority and 262 for equipment.

However, it said the figures were unfairly presented and did not accurately reflect the nature of the cancellations as they did not all mean patients necessarily had to wait longer for surgery.

Chief operating officer Michael Wilson said: “Over 600 of the operations that were ‘cancelled’ were in fact brought forward to an earlier date and about 1,000 were administrative cancellations which are about how the hospital schedules its work.

“For these cancellations patients are never contacted as the date we send them is the one they can rely on.

“We do around 66,375 operations a year and we obviously have more cancellations than smaller hospitals who do less but the numbers published do not adjust for this and suggest everyone is the same.

“Of course we know how much anxiety and distress cancelling operations causes for patients and their families, and that is why we do this as infrequently as possible.

“But we are also a very busy acute hospital and with the high numbers of life-threatening emergencies that come through our doors every day, we have to prioritise treating our most critical and severely ill patients.”

Trust chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “The trust has the most effective A&E department in the country, its infections rates are falling and it is performing well.”

Pensioner Josephine King, 72, of Goldstone Road, Hove, had her operation for a twisted hernia cancelled five times over a two-year period before finally having surgery in January this year.

She said: “I am not surprised by this.

I went through so much pain while waiting for the operation and I got so frustrated when it kept being called off.”