A health authority could find itself more than £9 million overspent by April.

Bed blocking and recruitment problems are pushing hospital trusts in the West Sussex Health Authority area over budget.

The high cost of drugs and rising demands for accident and emergency treatment have put extra strains on resources.

Authority finance director Derek Harvey is in talks with each trust in a bid to bring spending under control.

They are aiming to find ways to improve the flow of patients from hospitals into nursing and care homes which will help improve performances.

There are no plans yet to cut patient services.

The authority's catchment area includes Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust and Mid Sussex NHS Trust, which is responsible for Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

On average there are about 150 hospital beds a day throughout the county filled by patients waiting to leave but who cannot because no nursing home space is available for them.

Trusts are having problems recruiting nurses who find the area too expensive to live in and there is a national shortage of specialist staff such as radiologists.

Mr Harvey said: "Nine million pounds sounds a lot but out of an overall budget of about £600 million it is not as high as it seems.

"However, we clearly need to address the problem now before things deteriorate.

"The issue of bed blocking and care homes is a fundamental one for the county as it affects waiting lists and meeting government targets.

"It also adds to our costs as we spend more on finding places in privately-run nursing homes and obviously it is upsetting for the patients concerned.

"We have started major work to tackle delayed discharges and bed blocking as well as putting in additional money."

The Government has set up working groups on orthopaedics, dermatology, ophthalmology and ear, nose and throat treatments to tackle some of the major issues around the length of waiting lists.

Mr Harvey said it was going to take time before all the initiatives would become effective in easing pressures on the NHS and warned that next year hospital authorities could find themselves facing even more pressures.