Agency staff wages and the spiralling cost of specialist drugs has left an East Sussex NHS trust facing a massive debt.

Chris Fincham, director of financial services for the East Sussex County Healthcare NHS Trust, said board members were today discussing a series of steps to pull the trust out of a predicted shortfall of £2.8 million by next April.

The trust is responsible for providing mental health services, emergency dental services and substance misuse services in the county from its base in Hellingly, near Hailsham.

In a report to the board, Mr Fincham said an overspend of £293,307 in September had pushed the trust's deficit up to £1,071,121 half way through the financial year.

He said: "The medical and nursing staff overspends resulting from recruitment difficulties and the corresponding use of agency staff have exceeded initial expectations."

As part of a recovery package, hospital bosses are trying to recruit NHS staff to fill vacant nursing and medical posts instead of paying for agency staff.

Surplus buildings owned by the trust will also be sold off.

Mr Fincham warned that, although more funding was being sought to pay for the cost of specialist drugs, the price was continuing to rise.

Trust bosses hoped the package could generate savings of at least £1.4 million.

The biggest expenditure came from the Working Age Adult service, which provides health and social care mental health services for adults, including community mental health teams, day services, rehabilitation services, homes and hostels.

The service overspent on its budget of £11,961,720 by £622,246.