Hospitals are bracing themselves for a winter crisis as the flu season kicks in.

Experts say intensive care units across Sussex are facing an "inevitable" bed shortage because there are not enough specialist spaces to go round.

The Intensive Care Society (ICS) says only 2.5 per cent of hospital beds are allocated for critical care in the UK, the lowest level in Europe.

This compares to 3.5 per cent in France and Germany and four per cent in Denmark.

The country also has the smallest average size of intensive care units - six beds per unit compared to 19 per unit in Belgium.

At the moment hospitals in Sussex are managing to cope with demand but if there is a serious flu outbreak, they could face serious pressures.

Eastbourne District General Hospital has five intensive care beds. As the town has a high elderly population it is expecting to be under a lot of pressure if an epidemic kicks in.

A hospital spokesman said: "We are pretty busy at the moment but we are managing to cope. We are hopeful we have put in enough contingency plans so we can cope with demand over the winter period."

There are 14 intensive care beds at the busiest hospital in Sussex, the Royal Sussex County in Brighton and two more beds are due to open next year.

It has another eight in its cardiac department.

A Royal Sussex County spokesman said: "We have not had to transfer any patients to other hospitals for non-clinical reasons in the last two weeks.

"There are no signs of major problems with flu at the moment. We are starting to see an increase in the number of patients with chest problems coming into the hospital but the units have not been affected.

"We go through a series of peaks and troughs throughout the year. Winter is always a busy time but we hope we have made enough preparations to cope."

The ICS says the Government's focus on waiting list targets are skewing the management of care in hospitals across the UK.

It is also angered by the failure of a promised £14 million of extra funding.

ICS president Saxon Ridley said many beds were taken up with patients who needed intensive care after major planned surgery, leaving some emergency patients without a bed.

He said hospitals were keen not to cancel operations in their efforts to cut waiting lists so surgery went ahead regardless of the need to have beds available for emergency cases, which made up 75 per cent of intensive care workload.

The dangers of transferring patients when beds were not available in their hospital was also highlighted by the ICS.

Dr Ridley said: "The number of transfers is increasing and an intensive care bed crisis this winter is inevitable.

"Hospitals are creaking because there are so many patients at every level."

Doctors warned intensive care units had already been running at full capacity since the summer and if a flu epidemic was added, it would cause even more problems.

Dr Ridley said: "A shortage of beds is a serious risk to patients who are critically ill.

"It is vital the issue of funding in critical care is addressed and more ICU beds be made available."

Health Secretary John Reid said there was no evidence to suggest patients would receive inadequate critical care.

He said: "It is irresponsible for the ICS to use an informal canvass of some members' opinions in order to worry patients and the public without reason.

"Capacity for critical care is at record levels with 3,128 beds, a 32 per cent increase since January 2000."