Safety incidents at three Sussex hospitals led to the deaths of two patients and harmed more than 1,200 others.

Problems ranged from faulty medical equipments to patients being given the wrong drugs or falling out of bed.

Others suffered slips, trips, falls and pressure sores.

The patients were being cared for at Worthing Hospital, Southlands Hospital in Shoreham and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester over a six month period.

Hospital bosses have launched an investigation into the deaths.

The information was revealed in a report to the board of Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the three hospitals.

Most patients involved in incidents were unharmed but more than 1,000 suffered minor problems such as bumps and bruises.

More than 100 incidents were classed as moderate, which meant they caused significant but not permanent harm to the patient.

However seven patients were involved in incidents so severe they were permanently harmed.

The report said the trust had a policy of making sure there was a patient safety culture of staff reporting and learning from when things have gone wrong.

In the categories of moderate to severe, the trust's figures are lower than average, which the report said showed the organisation had procedures in place to minimise the number of accidents.

Cathy Stone, the trust's director of nursing and patient safety, said: “Although I am unable to comment on any of the details of these cases due to considerations of patient confidentiality, our absolute priority is the safety of our patients and both of these incidents are currently being investigated in line with trust policy.”

The number of incidents at Western Sussex Hospitals, which happened between last October and March, are in line with other trusts in the county.

A study by the National Patient Safety Agency last year showed that Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust recorded 3,179 incidents, which led to eight deaths over six months.

There were also three cases of severe harm, 53 incidents where a patient suffered moderate harm and 482 cases of low level harm.