Hospital chiefs say a shortage of staff means they are having to spend too much on expensive agency workers.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust is already £1.2 million over budget in the first couple of months of the financial year.

The trust, which runs hospitals in Brighton and Haywards Heath, says it is working to recruit and keep more staff.

Measures introduced last year to encourage nursing and department staff to join an internal nursing bank scheme were not as successful as hoped.

It means large numbers of agency staff are now being used to make sure wards and departments are covered.

David Dumigan, director of finance, said a lot of work needed to be done to get the trust's finances back on an even keel.

He said: "It is a difficult road financially but if we don't deal with it now we are going to have problems in the future."

Personnel director Chris Wilson said a recent open day in Brighton for people to learn more about becoming healthcare assistants had been successful.

He said more than 50 came on the day and a further 80 phoned. The trust has since had 66 applications and hoped to recruit 45.

Trust chief executive Stuart Welling said: "In the first two months of this year our performance has not been acceptable.

"We have to balance budgets and achieve targets while ensuring patients get the services and care they expect."

He said plans for service development could be at risk if the trust could not sort out finances and performance.

Thursday July 31, 2003