Fears have been raised of further job losses at a hospital trust crippled with debt.

Ministers have asked Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, which is already struggling to make savings of £12 million, to investigate a further £3 million cuts.

The trust already plans to axe 325 posts and unions yesterday raised fears that further cost-cutting could lead to dozens more jobs going.

Pete Croxford, Unison officer covering health in East Sussex, said: "We would be concerned about services being reduced, staff becoming demoralised and having to take on extra roles to cover for the posts being made redundant."

The trust, which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, expects to run up a deficit of £9.3 million this year and is still waiting to hear whether the Sussex and Surrey Strategic Health Authority will write off last year's deficit of £11.1 million.

The authority has yet to make its decision on whether the trust will be forced to find an extra £3 million but unions warned the extra cuts would have a devastating effect on staff.

At a board meeting on Tuesday, trust bosses heard that worries over job cuts were already contributing to low morale.

The Healthcare Commission's staff survey for 2005 asked staff how satisfied they were with various aspects of their work.

The trust scored 3.27 out of five, putting it among the bottom fifth of acute NHS trusts across England for staff satisfaction. Last year's score was 3.38.

Sickness absence stood at 4.5 per cent during May, up from 3.7 per cent during April, but part of the increase is thought to be due to better data collection.

The British Medical Association is warning that 16,000 posts at 20 trusts are facing the axe.

Dr Paul Miller, chairman of the BMA's consultants committee, said Government reorganisations were paralysing administration departments.

A Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust spokeswoman said: "The trust is committed to identifying as many savings opportunities as it can. The board is looking into whether this is feasible and will continue to work with the Strategic Health Authority on all such issues."