The retiring head of a hospital trust has called for more to be done to help NHS bosses balance the books.

John Lewis has stepped down as chairman of East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust after five years.

The trust was formed in April 2002 following the merger of Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust and Hastings and Rother NHS Trust.

Before 2002 he had been chairman of the old East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority since 1997.

Mr Lewis said the trust still had some hard work ahead of it as it prepared to bid for foundation trust status, which would give it greater freedom from Whitehall control.

He said: "Giving local people more involvement and a voice is the right way ahead.

"However, I fear there are challenges ahead. As we know, East Sussex has a high elderly population. The county has one of the highest levels of 85 plus year olds, which has grown by six per cent this year.

"Finance has always been a bone of contention. Our reference costs, an indicator of efficiency, have fallen dramatically yet the finances are on a knife edge. This proves that nationally we are underfunded.

"To achieve what we do means we run a very tight ship. This means enormous pressure on our staff and none of this is good for our patients or the residents of East Sussex.

"I ask all people of East Sussex, the good and the great, the movers and shakers, to do all in their power to right this wrong."

During his time at East Sussex Hospitals Mr Lewis oversaw controversy over alleged bullying and harassment of staff which led to an investigation by the Healthcare Commission.

There was also anger at a £231,000 payoff given to former chief executive Annette Sergeant while the trust was battling to get its finances under control.

Ms Sergeant was replaced by current chief executive Kim Hodgson in 2005 and since then the trust has managed to get back on a financial even keel and its efforts to tackle staff concerns have been praised by the Healthcare Commission.

Mr Lewis said: "In 2002 a patient could wait up to 26 weeks for an outpatient appointment and up to 15 months for an operation.

"Now the whole process from GP referral, outpatient appointment and first treatment is 18 weeks. In most cases it is much less.

"In 2002, 59 per cent of planned procedures were performed as day cases and this has risen to 80 per cent.

"There were 149 delayed transfers of care in June 2002 but these have now fallen to an average of in the mid twenties.

"In the last six years we have redesigned our processes and services to become more patient friendly. We introduced clinical matrons and put senior clinicians at the heart of decision-making.

"As a result, we have reduced the length of time patients stay in hospital, the number of cancelled operations has fallen by a massive 76 per cent and the time cancer patients wait to be seen and treated has reduced significantly."