Hospitals are cancelling more operations because of an increasing demand on services.

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has been forced to call off 565 operations since April this year.

The figure is nearly double the number for the same period last year and the trust says this is down to rising emergency cases and difficulties in finding places in nursing homes for patients to recover.

There are also still 8,573 people on the trust's non-emergency operations waiting list, 514 over its target of 8,059.

Part of the problem has been down to the lack of care and nursing home vacancies for NHS patients in East Sussex because social services cannot afford to buy them.

East Sussex Social Services has launched a campaign for more Government funding so it can cope but it is not expected to see the benefits until next year.

A trust spokesman said: "This is a busy trust which is under a great deal of pressure and we are doing everything we can to ease the problem, especially with the busy winter months coming up.

"We take all cancellations seriously and appreciate the anger and upset this causes patients.

"They are not decisions that are taken lightly but are only carried out as a last resort.

"When it comes to operations, obviously the emergency cases have to take precedence and if we can't find a place to send patients to recover afterwards, then the problems continue."

The trust has a series of plans to try and ease any problems this winter.

These include opening 20 intermediate care beds at Brighton General Hospital where patients can go to recover from their operations.

There are also plans to add extra intensive care and coronary care beds at Royal Sussex County General.