Patients needing blood transfusions and treatments are benefiting from a new hospital day-case scheme.

The haematology day service at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton has been developed for patients with conditions such as leukaemia and anaemia.

Patients who previously had to travel to hospitals in London and Worthing can now be treated at Brighton.

The service also means those patients who would have been admitted to the Royal Sussex overnight for a transfusion can now be dealt with in the new small unit.

Each session at the unit can take from half an hour to several hours depending on the patient's needs.

Haematology nurse specialist Nicola Worcester said: "Many transfusion patients would previously have been admitted to hospital for one or two days but now we are transfusing them in a small four-bed unit in about seven hours.

"Because they do not have to wait for an available bed, we have reduced waiting times to as little as 48 hours - when they were previously three or four weeks."

Ms Worcester set up the service earlier this year and co-ordinates it with part-time staff nurse Cate Chater.

More than 80 patients have benefited so far, many of whom are very sick and had to travel regularly to hospitals in London for blood tests or antibiotics.

It also meant dozens of patients did not have to be admitted to hospital for a transfusion, which has helped the hospital to admit other patients and reduce its high level of cancelled operations.

David Downes, 39, from Brighton, has had a bone marrow transplant for aplastic anaemia - a rare non-malignant disorder that stops the bone marrow producing normal blood cells. If untreated it can be fatal.

Mr Downes had the transplant at St George's Hospital in London and used to travel to Worthing Hospital for weekly platelet transfusions.

He still needs intensive treatment but said: "This makes it a lot easier. I don't have to do a lot of travelling, which can be tiring."

Consultant haematologist John Duncan said: "This is something patients have asked for in the past and we are very pleased it is now up and running. It has already proved to be successful."