Health chiefs in Mid Sussex plan to cut the number of beds in a children's ward due to lack of demand.

The Horsted Keynes ward at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath can cater for 18 beds but has just ten.

The ward has an average of just one and a half beds filled per day and is often empty at night.

Heath bosses at the Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust aim to reduce the size of the children's ward to free up space.

Part of the ward will be used for paediatric care while the remainder will be changed into a gynaecological ward.

A spokesman said it had not been decided how much would be kept for the care of youngsters.

The proposed move is part of a reshuffle at the Princess Royal to free up more bed space. The trust believes there are about 40 beds, or bed spaces, which have never been used due to financial or organisational reasons.

Its short-term aim is to alter the Horsted Keynes ward by as early as April and move daycare gynacological patients there from its Ardingly ward.

In the long-term, it wants to open up the extra 40 beds at the hospital to ease its growing bed- blocking problem.

The spokesman said: "So much money is being spent on sending patients to be cared for in the private sector which should be spent on the hospital.

"The Horsted Keynes ward is one of the most under-utilised wards in the hospital.

"We want to separate it and use part for children and part for gynacology. But it will not mean a loss of service."

Another part of the reshuffle aims to create a paediatric area in accident and emergency.

About 4,500 youngsters per year are treated alongside adults at the department.

But under the proposed scheme they would have their own section and be seen by paediatric staff.

The trust aims to be able to give more information to the public on the changes by May.

The proposals will then go the trust's board, which aims to make the extra 40 beds available by the end of the year.