The Government has piled pressure on to East Sussex social services to ease the bed-blocking crisis gripping the county's hospitals.

Junior health minister Stephen Ladyman accused the county council of "setting its face" against moves to reduce delayed discharges, which have been the main cause of a beds shortage.

East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Eastbourne District General Hospital and the Conquest Hospital in St Leonard's, has had to cancel up to 150 operations a day because it has not had beds available for new admissions.

The difficulties emerged after a surge in winter admissions caused bed occupancy to reach 97 per cent, well above the optimum efficiency level of between 82 and 87 per cent.

Dr Ladyman told a Westminster Hall debate yesterday that the county council's efforts to increase residential care capacity for elderly people awaiting discharge had been "lamentable".

His comments follow the recent claim by health minister Rosie Winterton that the Tory-run county council is deliberately keeping pensioners in hospital to avoid paying for residential care.

The accusation has been angrily denied by the council and Eastbourne's Conservative MP, Nigel Waterson, who yesterday accused the Government of using the crisis for party political gain.

But Dr Ladyman said: "We have a clear picture of a county council social services department that has not been punching its weight in the past.

"It has not been delivering its side of the equation, which is to make sure there is capacity in the local community into which people can be discharged from hospital without delay.

"If the social services are not prioritising that capacity then it's no wonder that these problems arise.

"We need to accept that they have certainly been lamentable in what they have been able to deliver in the past."

Dr Ladyman added that the council was the only authority in the country which was not complying with legislation to end bed-blocking, under which the authority is fined £100 a day for every discharge that is delayed.

He said: "It appears to me that in East Sussex the council has set its face against allowing this legislation to work.

"I would encourage them and local health partners to get together in a room and work out how they can make this work better for themselves."

Mr Waterson, who secured the debate, claimed the council is being short-changed because the funding formula does not take into account the high proportion of elderly people in the area.

He said: "Of course it is important all these bodies work together to try to solve the problem."

"But if, as I believe, the underlying cause of the problem is underfunding of health and social care, it's no wonder these bodies are at each others' throats."