Staff at private hospitals in Sussex may lose their jobs because of a shake-up in the way they are run.

The Nuffield Hospitals Group is restructuring because of a fall in the private healthcare market. Administration, marketing and support staff posts may become redundant.

Nursing and other clinical staff are not affected.

The group runs hospitals in Haywards Heath, Brighton and Chichester and employs around 540 staff.

Haywards Heath has already announced two redundancies. Managers at Brighton and Chichester are still working to find solutions.

A spokesman for the hospitals group said redundancies would be kept to a minimum and she expected only a handful of people in Sussex to be affected.

She also said almost all would be offered other posts within the Nuffield hospitals.

She said: "These changes are primarily due to a period of downturn in the private healthcare market.

"Some administrative, marketing and other support functions have been centralised as part of this restructure, resulting in reduced staffing requirements."

The spokeswoman said there were several factors leading to a drop in the healthcare market, one of which is the gradual decline in NHS hospitals using their services.

The private King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst is one of the victims. The drop in NHS contracts over the last two years was part of the reason debts mounted.

It is facing closure if a rescue package, including major redevelopment of the site and hundreds of new homes, is thrown out by the council.

Friday October 24, 2003