A struggling hospital trust has come under extra pressure because of a contract with a private hospital, according to an MP.

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt said a deal between Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust and Bupa Redhill Hospital, based at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, was badly negotiated.

The trust, which is £17 million in the red and could have a £38 million deficit by March next year, is to close three operating theatres and up to 35 beds at Crawley Hospital to save £1.7 million.

Its board agreed earlier this month to cut the number of routine operations at Crawley rather than at East Surrey Hospital because of the five-year contract it has with Bupa to provide services.

Bupa gets £9.2 million to take on 12,267 cases covering orthopaedics, general surgery and endoscopies.

Mrs Moffatt said: "The trust has to get out of its financial deficit if we are to see the real developments we all want.

"I do not believe it is helpful for the present board to be stuck with a badly-negotiated contract which is apparently adding to their problems.

"If this contract is the problem then we have to get it sorted out because these are services which could and should be part of an extended range of care being delivered at Crawley Hospital."

Anthony McKeever, the trust's interim chief executive, said: "The trust is currently reviewing its contract with the diagnosis and treatment centre and we have set out a timetable to ensure this process is completed by mid-December."