Urgent steps are being promised to help ease extreme pressures on beds at two hospitals.

Crisis talks were held yesterday to discuss the surge in emergency admissions at East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust.

The rise has pushed the Eastbourne District General Hospital (DGH) and the Conquest Hospital, St Leonards, to their limits in the past six weeks.

On Tuesday, every trolley and bed at the DGH was occupied, forcing ambulances to divert 11 patients to the Conquest more than 20 miles away.

Ministers are being asked to intervene amid fears further strain could result in an A&E department closing temporarily.

Figures showed that from January emergency admissions rose more than six per cent on the same time last year. A&E patient numbers have risen 4.6 per cent.

It has led to more than 150 operations being cancelled on the day of surgery and many more a day or two in advance.

Trust officials conceded patients are being treated in areas that would not normally be used.

Day surgery units are being staffed 24-hours a day, seven days a week to cope with the number of patients.

The Argus told yesterday how the trust has been working at a 97 per cent average bed occupancy rate for the past six weeks.

That figure is well above what is nationally-recognised as an efficient level of between 82 and 87 per cent for acute hospitals.

Trust bosses said part of the problem is the number of beds being occupied by people fit for discharge but who have nowhere to go.

They said 64 of its beds are being occupied by bed-blockers, of whom 49 are awaiting funding from social services.

East Sussex County Council, the county's Primary Care Trusts and Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority held an urgent meeting in Lewes to discuss the issue.

It was agreed immediate measures would be put in place, including making extra places available for residential and nursing care, to free up beds.

The crisis emerged at a trust board meeting where a range of emergency measures were discussed, including cancelling operations, closing an A&E department during times of severe pressure or discharging patients earlier.

Trust chief executive Annette Sergeant said: "It is pressure enough to have such a high bed occupancy rate for a few days.

"But to work at that level for six weeks is unheard of and I have never seen it in my 30 years of working in the NHS.

"Staff are rapidly becoming exhausted and we have increased our capacity to the limit with additional agency staff."

Trust chairman John Lewis said: "This is a very serious situation.

"We are responsible for treating patients who require medical care but we can't cope with the increase in demand when a number of our beds are unavailable.

"None of these options are easy ones to take and we do not consider them lightly."

Medical director Dr David Scott said: "Clinical staff are being stretched to the absolute limit. We have patients who are fit for discharge who don't need to be in hospital."

The trust board agreed to review the situation daily and take action in line with the option they felt would be least damaging to patient care.

East Sussex County Council said: "Steps are being taken immediately, including making additional places available for residential and nursing care, so some patients can leave hospital.

"Local government watchdog, the Audit Commission, say the solution to this long-term problem lies in modernising health and social care services so fewer people need emergency admission to hospital.

"They believe the county council's social services have taken a major step forward already in improving services."

Eastbourne Tory MP Nigel Waterson has demanded an urgent meeting with ministers to discuss the crisis.

He said: "I am very concerned patient care will suffer because of the enormous pressures on our local hospital."