A Sussex hospital's record on urgent breast cancer referrals has been ranked the worst in England by a new survey.

The Good Hospital Guide says only 35 per cent of patients referred urgently to a specialist at Brighton Health Care NHS Trust see one within two weeks.

The Guide, compiled by the Sunday Times and healthcare publishing firm Dr Foster, compares standards between hospital trusts throughout the UK.

But health bosses say the score is several months out of date and the figure is now 87 per cent.

Brighton Healthcare spokesman Ian Keeber said: "The figures for the breast cancer waiting times refer to a period last June when we had problems with recruitment and were trying to find a new radiologist.

"Within a very short space of time we were able to turn the situation around and more than double the figure by August."

Other Sussex trusts had mixed fortunes in the Guide. Royal West Sussex, responsible for St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, had the fourth lowest mortality rate in the country.

At Mid Sussex NHS Trust, 88 per cent of patients were said to have confidence in their doctors, the fourth highest ranking in the country.

But at Worthing and Southlands hospitals the figure was 75 per cent, placing the trust equal tenth lowest in England.