A hospital is on red alert because of a deluge of patients.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has been at the highest level of alert for the last 24 hours after a large number of emergency admissions.

The status could lead to non-emergency operations being cancelled and patients sent to other hospitals.

Worthing Hospital was put on standby to take six patients from the Royal Sussex to ease the pressure.

The Royal Sussex has been dealing with increasing numbers of patients through its accident and emergency department, sparking fears about its ability to cope if A&E facilities are lost elsewhere in the county.

Accident and emergency units at Worthing, Haywards Heath and Chichester are under threat as plans are developed for a shake-up of hospital services later this year.

West Sussex Primary Care Trust will not be unveiling details of its proposals until after the local elections on May 3 but they are expected to include the downgrading of hospital services around the county.

Campaigners against cutbacks warn the Royal Sussex is already struggling to cope with demand at the moment and things will be made worse if cuts are made elsewhere.

The hospital's problems have been added to because it is in the middle of working to save £15 million this year which has led to a reduction in bed numbers and cuts in staff.

It also has a high number of bed-blocking patients who are ready to leave hospital but cannot go because no nursing home place is available for them or the extra support they need to go back home is not ready yet.

A Royal Sussex spokeswoman said: "There is an agreed Sussex-wide escalation plan which involves hospitals throughout the area sharing information about their status and agreeing to support each other when necessary "Only patients who are assessed as suitable by their clinician and the ambulance service are transferred between hospitals."

The Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, run by the same trust as the Royal Sussex, was on amber alert as was the Conquest Hospital in St Leonards.

St Richard's in Chichester was on red while Worthing Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital were on the normal code green level.

There is no definable reason why the hospitals are so busy but a higher percentage of the large numbers of patients arriving at A&E are in are in a poorly condition and need to be admitted.