Two major hospital trusts could merge to create a single organisation managing hospitals in Brighton and Mid Sussex.

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust is set to merge with Mid Sussex NHS Trust if approval is granted by the Health Secretary following a period of public consultation.

The announcement is due to be made to staff from both trusts on Monday but has been revealed in a leaked memo.

The two organisations held a meeting on Thursday and agreed to create a single hospital trust serving the 450,000-strong Central Sussex population by April 2002, with a budget of 180 million.

The new trust would maintain and develop what health chiefs describe as two strong, vibrant centres of acute care focused on the populations of the city of Brighton and Hove, Mid Sussex and the Ouse Valley.

The Mid Sussex NHS Trust could disappear anyway if changes currently under discussion are approved.

There are plans for some services in the Mid Sussex NHS Trust, based in Haywards Heath, to be managed by other organisations.

These include community services, which would be run by the new Mid Sussex Primary Care Trust. There are also plans for consultation on forming a trust to run mental health, learning disability and social care services across West Sussex from April 1, 2002.

Mid Sussex NHS Trust chief executive Stefan Cantore said in the memo: "Our trust has come to the logical conclusion that our joint efforts in working more closely towards clinical integration also point towards managerial integration."

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust chief executive Stuart Welling wrote: "We have been working closely together since 1994 and today's decision is one to which both boards have unanimously agreed.