Troubleshooting money experts are being sent in to get debt-ridden hospitals back on track.

Three of Sussex's hospital trusts are among 18 in England named and shamed as poor performers when it comes to handling money.

Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Crawley Hospital and East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, tops the list with an expected deficit of £41 million at the end of March about a third of its annual budget.

Royal West Sussex NHS Trust, which runs St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, comes in second with an overspend of £17 million, about 18 per cent of its annual budget.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust also makes the list with a predicted deficit of under £14 million, about five per cent of its annual turnover.

The measure follow a review by accountanting firm KPMG, which was sent into 62 trusts with significant expected deficits last December.

The trusts were whittled down to 18 deemed unable of turning the situation around without outside help.

Each of those is to receive its own turnaround director, who will work alongside existing management teams to resolve difficulties.

The move has sparked concerns it will affect patient services.

Hospitals in the county have already tried to save money though cost-cutting schemes, including closing beds, imposing a ban on expensive agency staff, reducing the number of operations being done and cutting jobs.

Peter Adams, from the Patient Action Group in Sussex, said: "Hospitals have already been cutting back as much as they can. How much more are they going to be doing now?

"It is going to be the patients and staff who suffer if they start scaling back even more. Perhaps they should start looking at scaling back on the managers instead and save the money that way."

Lyn Robertshaw, acting chief executive at the Royal West Sussex, said: "Our financial position has stabilised and we hope to meet our agreed financial target at the end of this financial year.

"Like other trusts, we have already actioned projects to reduce our deficit and cut our expenditure to the absolute minimum. We know there is much work still to be done."

Brighton and Sussex chief executive Peter Coles said:

"Action has already been taken by the trust to reduce our deficit but we recognise we still have a long way to go.

"The practical skills of the turnaround team, with their commercial experience, will complement the existing executive team at the trust, which is working hard to improve our efficiency while ensuring services remain patient-focused.

"Areas of attention will include reducing patients'

unnecessarily long lengths of stay in hospital."

Crawley MP Laura Moffatt wecomed the move.

She said: "I completely support anything that can help the team at the trust get back in financial order and protect the services for the people in my constituency."