Scores of hospital beds have been axed by cash-strapped NHS trusts in Sussex during the last year.

Government figures reveal that spiralling debts forced county health chiefs to get rid of 171 acute beds between 2003/4 and 2004/5.

East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton, who obtained the information from the Department of Health, claimed that the closures were just the "tip of the iceberg".

The Tory health spokesman said the true scale of the closures would not be revealed until bed numbers are published for this year, when the NHS is facing record debts.

The most severe cuts so far have been at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals, where 81 acute beds have been lost in 12 months.

The figures, published in a Parliamentary written answer by Public Health Minister Caroline Flint, reveal that the number of acute beds fell from 944 in 2003/4 to 863 in 2004/5.

Over the same period, Royal West Sussex got rid of 53 beds, bringing numbers down from 498 to 445.

Sussex Downs and Weald Primary Care Trust axed 25, down from 105 to 80.

Western Sussex PCT scrapped 12, with bed numbers falling from 57 to 45.

There were also bed closures by Surrey and Sussex Healthcare, which has the biggest deficit of any NHS trust in the country.

It lost another 58 beds, although the Government could not say where they were based. It now has 535, down from 593 in 2003/4.

Mr Loughton said: "It's not good news and it's just the tip of the iceberg.

"That figure is slightly flattering because some treatments from the Alexandra in Haywards Heath have gone to Brighton. I think the figure will be even worse this year."

He added that the closures were further evidence that record investment in the NHS was not getting through to the front line.

Mr Loughton said: "At a time when record increases in health are coming through, we appear to have a health service which is going into reverse in terms of the waiting times of some operations, having to mothball beds because the money has ran out.

"All the money is going in, but too much is going on the bureaucrats. The number of civil servants hasn't gone down, but the beds have."

The figures reveal that there were also small increases in the numbers of beds at East Sussex Hospitals and Worthing and Southlands Hospitals.

East Sussex saw bed numbers grow from 695 to 697, while those at Worthing and Southlands increased from 409 to 412.

A Department of Health spokesman that NHS trusts had to decide their own priorities within their budget allocations.

He said: "They have got their budgets and any decisions about changes to services is a matter for them."