Operations are to be to be carried out at weekends to clear the backlog of tonsil removals caused by a shortage of disposable surgical instruments.

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has been forced to postpone 18 non-emergency operations since the end of January because of fears of a theoretical risk of contracting CJD through the tonsils.

The trust, along with most others in the UK, now only uses sterilised disposable instruments for tonsillectomies.

Surgeons were forced to suspend operations because of a shortage of the instruments.

Carolyn Volker, the trust's general manager of surgery, said they had ordered 80 sets of instruments as a matter of urgency and were hopeful they would arrive in the next two to three weeks.

She said: "We spoke to the parents of the patients involved about the delays and they accepted that it was necessary.

"We are hoping to have the backlog cleared by May and from then on there should be no problems as the supplies will be in place."

The trust plans to carry out operations on Saturdays and use facilities at Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath as well as Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton to speed up the rate of operations.

Trust chief executive Stuart Welling said: "We would like to stress that the risks of contracting CJD is very, very small."

We reported this week how Ruby Naldrett, three, had suffered months of agony while waiting for an operation at Southlands Hospital in Shoreham.