THE number of patients on wards are at unsafe levels across all three of our main hospital trusts, figures reveal.

Hospitals are supposed to have no more than 85 per cent of their beds occupied to minimise the risk of infections and delays in getting treatment.

However information from NHS England shows hospitals have been averaging at about 93 per cent within the last two months.

In the week ending January 29, an average 96 per cent of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust’s general and acute beds were filled.

The rate was even higher at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, which had a rate of 98 per cent and Western Sussex Hospitals was 96 per cent.

NHS bosses said a main part of the problem are delays in discharging elderly and frail hospitals at a time when demand is high.

Brighton and Sussex has been under intense pressure over the past two months as it struggles to discharge patients at the same rate they are being admitted.

This has had a knock-on effect on other departments like accident and emergency, where patients face long waits for a bed to become available.

The trust was forced to cancel 195 operations for non-clinical reasons between October and December.

Its latest board papers show 139 patients are still waiting more than a year for non-emergency treatment after being referred by their GP.

Just under 80 per cent of patients were being seen within 18 weeks of referral compared to the national required standard of 92 per cent.

The trust is working with Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group, the city council and other organisations in a bid to speed up the patient discharge process.

This includes providing more beds in the community so patients can come out of hospital and get extra care and support they need before going home.

A Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals spokeswoman said: “Like most hospitals across the country, throughout December and January our emergency departments were extremely busy with very high numbers of acutely unwell people.

“Our aim is always to treat patients arriving in our emergency departments as quickly as possible but unfortunately when the hospital is very busy there are times when patients have to wait longer than we would like to be admitted to a bed in an appropriate ward.

“We are making improvements across the trust to help with the flow of patients throughout the hospital and we are working with our partners to improve the discharge of patients who no longer need a hospital bed.”