Death rates from prostate cancer have exposed unequal survival prospects for patients across Sussex.

Campaigners publishing the figures today said the differences amounted to an unacceptable postcode lottery.

Death rates for the disease swing from more than 20 per cent below the national average to 20 per cent above.

There were even variations within cities and towns with the Brighton Pavilion area having a much lower death rate than Brighton Kemptown.

The differences are unconnected with affluence or social and ethnic background, with relatively affluent areas such as Arundel performing just as badly as poorer areas such as Littlehampton.

It also emerged that Hastings had higher than average survival rates than Hove and Mid Sussex - both much more well off.

In England, the average annual death rate for prostate cancer is 26.6 per 100,000 members of the population.

A survey of constituency areas showed Eastbourne, Bognor and Littlehampton and Arundel and South Downs all had death rates of 32 per 100,000.

Rother had 31, while Brighton Kemptown, East Worthing and Shoreham, Bexhill and Wealden all had 30.

Chichester had a rate of 29 while West Worthing, Lewes and Horsham were on 28.

The best performing areas in the county were Brighton Pavilion and Crawley who had a rate of 21 per 100,000 of the population.

Hastings has a rate of 22 while Hove and Mid Sussex had 26.

Around 10,000 of the 35,000 men in the UK diagnosed with prostate cancer each year die from their disease.

The figures have been published as evidence of health service inequality by Prostate Cancer Charter for Action, a coalition group of voluntary sector and professional organisations.

They are recommending more work needs to be done to encourage earlier diagnosis of the disease, ensuring patients get accurate information and increasing the provision of specialist nurses.

Bognor and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb said: "We need to ensure that the proper funding is given to health services not just in my constituency but across the county so that everyone can get access to the care and support they needed." Consultant urological surgeon Paul Miller, who works at Crawley Hospital, said the number of patients diagnosed with the disease was going up each year.

He said: "We are reaching the point where the baby boom generation of the 1960s are coming to the age where they are vulnerable to illnesses such as prostate cancer.

"It is vital they get access to the services and treatments they need.

"There is an effective ultrasound treatment for the early stages of prostate cancer that is widely used in Europe but not available on the NHS over here yet.

"It has been effective and means patients can avoid radiotherapy and surgery and complications but they can't have it unless they pay privately.

"It is important that we continue to raise awareness of the disease and ensure people get the choice and access to the treatments they need and want." Campaign supporter Frank Chinegwundoh said: "More than any other cancer, the story of prostate cancer in the UK remains a story of inequalities.

"Prostate cancer sufferers report worse care, lower awareness and poorer outcomes than other patients.

"Now these figures show that even amongst prostate cancer patients, a man's chances of dying depends on where he lives.

"There can be no excuse for these inequalities in a 21st Century NHS.

"If the Government's Cancer Reform Strategy is to be a success, then these unacceptable postcode lotteries must be eliminated."