A new home care scheme for patients who have had hip or knee replacement operations is being piloted in West Sussex.

Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust is spending £120,000 to appoint a team of nurses, physiotherapists and occupational therapists to visit patients at home after they leave hospital.

Head of surgery Jeannie Baumann said: "It is a well-known fact that patients recover faster if they are in their own home environment.

"This new scheme will enable us to give them the specialist help they need and allow us to use hospital beds more efficiently."

The trust carries out more than 500 hip and knee replacement operations each year and about 25 patients a month will benefit from the service.