Health workers today vowed to keep a close eye on developments after being told of plans to merge two major hospital trusts.

We exclusively revealed on Saturday plans to merge Brighton Health Care NHS Trust and Mid Sussex NHS Trust.

Staff were officially told of the plan shortly after arriving for work at Brighton and the Haywards Heath-based Mid Sussex trust this morning.

The merger will create a new organisation to take on management responsibilities for acute hospital services at the Princess Royal Hospital and Hurstwood Park in Haywards Heath and the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

It will also mean some services being transferred from Brighton to Haywards Heath and vice versa.

Potential job losses are expected to come from management rather than clinical staff but they are likely to be minimal.

Union representatives from both trusts said they would keep a close eye on developments.

A spokesman from the Royal College of Nursing said: "No details have been finalised or worked out but we will be looking with interest at what is going on."

The new organisation is expected to come into force by next April subject to approval from Health secretary Alan Milburn.

Brighton Health Care chief executive Stuart Welling is the project director for the proposed merger.

He said: "Today's decision is one to which both boards have unanimously agreed.

"Doctors, nurses and other clinical staff across central Sussex will be working together within a single organisation with a shared approach to providing modern health care to a population of 450,000."