Health workers could take strike action over planned job cuts, a union has warned.

The GMB says staff at Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust are angry at plans to cut 500 posts.

The trust originally planned to get rid of 325 posts but was forced to up the number after being told it had to save a further £3 million.

It is also planning to close 109 beds, cut back on agency staff and reduce its nonclinical budget by up to 15 per cent.

There are between 700 and 800 GMB members working at the trust's hospitals in Brighton and Haywards Heath, including nurses, health care assistants, domestic staff, radiography workers, clerical staff and medical records workers GMB representative Charles Harrity said:

"These people are working under very difficult circumstances and they are not happy.

"The frustration and anger is palpable. The general feeling is that it was managers who got the trust into this trouble but it is the foot soldiers who are suffering.

"We are hoping to meet with personnel this week and we will be telling them we are not simply going to accept this.

"We are going to vigorously defend our members and their jobs. Every option is being kept open, whether it be industrial action, demonstrations or anything else because there comes a time when enough is enough.

"People who got them into this mess should be the ones going out. Not those on the front line."

The trust ended the last financial year £11.3 million in the red and a team of money specialists was sent in to get it back on track. The turnaround plans originally involved saving £12 million this year but the South East Coast Strategic Health Authority has increased the amount to £15 million.

The GMB's announcement comes as unions warn of protests across the NHS over job losses, cutbacks and reorganisation.

A lobby of Parliament is planned for October and there will be rallies and demonstrations across the UK, as well as fringe meetings at the TUC Congress and Labour Party annual conference in September.

Unison's head of health, Karen Jennings, said: "It looks as though we are heading for a summer of discontent with sadly more job losses on the way."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said the pace and direction of reform in the NHS had not won the support of staff. He said: "Health unions support reform that delivers better patient care but too many current changes seem to be driven by an ideological preference for the private sector and will not benefit patients.

"There can be no doubt there have been big improvements in the NHS under this Government but the Government's relentless changes and preference for privatisation is causing growing frustration among staff who want the NHS to succeed but think their views have not been taken into account."