Ten  patients died and more than 2,200 were harmed following safety incidents at Sussex hospitals in six months.

Problems included faulty equipment, patients being given the wrong medication, slips and falls and mistakes in operations.

Other incidents include patients who developed serious pressure sores during their hospital stay.

Most reported cases caused either no or very little harm but hundreds of others were followed by more serious injuries or problems.

Figures published by NHS Commissioning Board Authority give a breakdown on the number of mistakes, accidents and other issues reported to it by hospital trusts between October 2012 and the end of March this year.

Brighton and Sussex University hospitals NHS Trust reported 3,548 incidents with 323 causing low or moderate harm.

There was one case of severe harm and one incident was followed by a patient's death.

East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust reported 2,867 incidents, which caused severe harm in 28 cases.

Seven incidents were followed by a patient's death.

Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reported 4,097 incidents, with 991 causing low or moderate harm.

Two incidents were followed by the patient dying and in four cases the patient was said to have suffered serious harm.

A spokeswoman for East Sussex Healthcare said: “The figures published show that almost 99% of incidents resulted in no permanent harm to patients.

“A very small number of incidents may have contributed to a patient death.

“This is a judgement and declaration that we ourselves make and is always followed up by a detailed investigation during which the family is kept fully informed.

“It may not mean that the incident was the direct cause of the death, particularly when a patient was very sick.

“These figures show we are being open and transparent as part of the programme of 'promoting patient safety by reducing error'.

“Local people should be reassured that a culture exists within the Trust to learn from incidents and minimise the risk of any reoccurrence.”

A spokesman for Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals said: “The figures published show that over 99.9% of the clinical incidents reported resulted in no permanent harm to patients.

“During the last six months two investigations undertaken by the trust concluded that more could have been done to have prevented an adverse outcome.

“As with all investigations into patient safety incidents the families of the patient involved in these incidents were fully involved during the investigation and a full report was shared with them.

“We believe that by being open and transparent we have a greater chance of preventing a similar incident happening again.”