More heart operations are to be carried out by Sussex doctors thanks to a £10 million cash boost.

Specialists at the Sussex Cardiac Centre, based in Brighton, are now waiting to hear what their share of the Government funds will be so they can finalise exactly how many more life-saving operations they can perform.

Department of Health heart deaths supremo Roger Boyle has announced Brighton Health Care NHS Trust, which runs the cardiac centre, is one of 26 trusts nationally to benefit from the £10 million.

The Government is providing £180 million for 6,000 more heart operations by 2003.

The Sussex Cardiac Centre, which opened in June 1999 as part of the £64 million revamp of the Royal Sussex County Hospital, serves a catchment of one million people.

Hospital spokesman Ian Keeber said: "We will be able to perform more heart operations with this money, which is good news for the people of Sussex.

"We are now eager to see how much money we might receive and exactly how it can be spent."

Tony Plumb, a Sussex spokesman for the Zipper Club, a support group representing the British Cardiac Patients' Association, said extra cash would make life easier for heart patients.

He said: "At the present time there are still a lot of people who have to go to London for operations, which makes it difficult for their carers. We would certainly like to see more operations performed closer to home."

The Department of Health is working to reduce the number of deaths from heart disease by at least two fifths by 2010.

Other national changes designed to make the NHS a European leader in cardiac care include rapid response teams for emergencies and better follow-up care.

Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott said: "In the long term we will have more specialist heart disease doctors and more cardiac centres to provide more operations and better care."