Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt has promised to look into the financial difficulties of Sussex hospitals after they were flagged up by a county MP.

Mid-Sussex Tory Nicholas Soames complained the Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust had failed to get out of debt after merging with the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

He said: "When the Princess Royal hospital merged with the Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust, it did so with a substantial debt.

"The trust has not recovered from that debt and because of a number of changes that have been made and a difficult financial situation, it finds itself in some difficulty."

Mr Soames called on the Government to write off debts when hospital trusts merge so they "start with a clean sheet of paper".

But Ms Hewitt said that would only mean taking money from other areas of the NHS to prop up hospitals which failed to balance the books.

She said: "Given the substantial increase in NHS investment that has taken place in every part of England, it is important that all NHS trusts live within their means.

"I will look at the specific situation of the honourable gentleman's trust and write to him about that.

"I would not generally favour a writing-off of historic debts before or after a merger, for the simple reason that would have to be carried by other parts of the NHS where services might well suffer as a result.