The number of bed-blocking patients in hospitals is rising sharply as winter pressures kick in.

There are 47 patients in hospital beds run by Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust who are ready to go home but cannot be discharged because no nursing or care home place is available.

Trust chief executive Peter Coles told a board meeting yesterday the knock-on effect was significantly adding to the pressures and delays experienced at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath.

Patients have been experiencing long delays in accident and emergency and ambulance crews have had problems handing people they have brought in to the department quickly.

Sussex Ambulance Service are taking some cases from north Brighton to the Princess Royal to ease the pressures.

A spokeswoman said: "We are aware of the pressures the trust is under and are working with them to try and help the situation. However, we also need to be aware of the resources we have and the need to ensure ambulance service staff are not facing delays."

Some ambulance staff warn that long queues of ambulances waiting to discharge patients in Brighton will become a regular spectacle unless the situation is resolved.

They say the decision this summer to shake up services and send all patients needing emergency surgery in Brighton and Hove and Mid Sussex to the Royal Sussex and not Haywards Heath has added to the pressure.

One worker said: "We have had the problems already seen when they got rid of the A&E department at Crawley and started sending all patients to East Surrey Hospital at Redhill instead.

"We did warn this was going to happen as the extra demand for services means the staff really struggle to cope."

Mr Coles said the trust was working with primary care trusts, South Downs Health and local authorities to tackle the problem.

Trust chairman Glynn Jones said part of the problem was an 11 per cent increase in the expected number of patients visiting A&E so far this winter.

He said: "A lot of these are people with minor problems which could be dealt with elsewhere. We would ask people to make sure they are going to the right place."