The two Sussex health authorities are in the top quarter of new league tables highlighting their performance.

The so-called Sick List is based on death rates from cancer and heart disease, hospital waiting lists, hip operations and deaths from "avoidable" diseases such as TB and asthma. The tables have been drawn up by health think tank The King's Fund.

They place West Sussex Health Authority 17th out of 120 across the country and East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority 27th. Manchester Health Authority has been named as Britain's worst, while Oxfordshire is reported to have the best care provision.

The King's Fund also commissioned a MORI poll and asked people to decide which criteria they felt should have priority in the health service. Most put spending on heart disease and cancer at the top of the list, while funding for

tackling waiting lists and hip operations was seen as less important.

The King's Fund then looked at how the results matched the actual performance of health authorities and ranked them accordingly. Experts said the league table showed that some of the country's most deprived areas had the worst health care provision.

Manchester has the highest rates in the country for heart disease, cancer and avoidable diseases. By contrast, Oxfordshire has some of the lowest death rates for cancer and heart disease.

An East Sussex Health Authority spokeswoman said: "This is good news which reflects the findings of local research. Having said that, we do know that in our area there are areas of deprivation which are being tackled by a health improvement programme."

Brian Hughes, a director of West Sussex Health Authority, said: "It's good to know that West Sussex is in the upper ranges of this league table. But we need to recognise it is generally a healthy and more economically wealthy part of the country so we would expect that. The results reflect all the good work put in by all the health workers in the county."

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