A HOSPITAL trust has the highest rate of bed blocking in the south east.

An average of ten per cent of beds at Brighton and Hove University Hospitals NHS Trust are taken up by patients who are ready to be discharged.

This has a knock-on effect on other hospital areas, particularly under-pressure accident and emergency departments.

Patients end up having to wait long hours in A&E for a bed to become available for them on a ward.

Trust chief executive Marianne Griffiths said at a recent board meeting the figure was much higher than other areas and the highest in the region.

She said: “At Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust it is considered a bad day if the rate is about 3.5 per cent so you can see what an impact this is having.

“This type of figure is dramatic in terms of all the beds available in the system and one of the worst things for us in terms of A&E issues.”

Part of the delays in discharging patients is caused by beds in nursing or care homes not being available or by arrangements not being made to provide support to patients in their own homes.

Ms Griffiths said the trust would be meeting with council officials to discuss future investment in social care services.

Having more services available in the community would help speed up discharges and ensure patients move through the hospital more quickly.

It would also help cut the number of non-emergency operations having to be cancelled at the last minute due to a shortage of available beds.

The trust had to cancel 21 operations at short notice in March, but this was much lower than the 56 called off in January.

A report to the board said bed occupancy rates at the trust were running at 95 to 100 per cent in March, which is well above recommended safe levels of 85 per cent.

The report said there was an average of 76 delayed transfers of care each day throughout the month.

The trust is continuing to miss the national target of seeing, treating and either admitting or discharging 95 per cent of patients in A&E within four hours.

However its rate of 84.3 per cent is an improvement of four per cent on the month before.

It also managed to reach the 95 per cent target over the long Easter weekend.

Staff have managed to reduce the number of delays for ambulance crews in handing over patients to hospital workers by more than 60 per cent.

This has been a major problem for South East coast Ambulance Service at hospitals around the county.

The longer a crew has to stay at A&E with a patient the longer they are off the road and not able to get to emergency calls.

Ms Griffiths is also chief executive of Western Sussex Hospitals.

She and her senior team have entered a temporary buddying agreement with Brighton and Sussex to provide leadership and help it get back on track.

She has already secured approval from national NHS chiefs for funding of up to £30m to make improvements to the A&E department at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.