Boiling temperatures have contributed to an unexpected surge in hospital emergency cases.

Duncan Selbie, chief executive of the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, said staff were working faster and harder than ever before to ensure patients were getting seen, treated and discharged.

The sharp rise has been partly blamed on the hot weather, which has led to an increase in people developing respiratory problems and dehydration.

Elderly people have been particularly affected and have needed to be admitted for treatment.

The pressure comes after managers scrapped an extra 27 beds at the Royal Sussex which it had been using since January to help cope with a high number of patients.

They had to close the beds because the area on Level 5 at the hospital is being used to build a new high dependency unit.

There are also plans to expand the day case area next to create an extra operating theatre and single sex accommodation.

Mr Selbie said the hospital was having to cope with high numbers of patients coming in while not discharging others quickly enough.

He said things were improving but the last two weeks had been particularly difficult.

He said: “We don’t turn away patients and we don’t turn away ambulances so we need to find the space.

“We are doing that by making sure patients are seen as quickly as we can when they get in and arrange for their tests and get them treated so they can go home as quickly as possible.

“We are constantly on the go.

“Our first and highest priority is always to treat the sick and the injured and we can never turn away someone in need.

“This is not a new problem and one we are struggling to crack. I am though determined and sure that we will.”

Mr Selbie said patients were still getting the appropriate care through staff working flat out and said treatment would never be compromised.

The average daily attendance across accident and emergency sites at the Royal Sussex and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, which are run by the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals Trust, is normally between 420 and 430 but these have been rising in recent weeks to 485 and 491.