Hundreds treated for ice injuries

Extra clinics are being held at the Royal Sussex County Hospital

Hospitals in East Sussex have treated nearly 600 patients for injuries caused by slipping over in icy conditions since the first snowfall on Friday.

The Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton and the Princess Royal in Haywards Heath have treated 200 in what is being classed as a "major incident".

Another 250 casualties have been treated at Accident and Emergency in Eastbourne and 130 in Hastings.

Darenth Valley Hospital in Kent also said it said it had been very busy.

The hospital, in Dartford, said it had treated many more patients than normal with head, wrist, ankle injuries.

Extra staff have been drafted in to cope.

"I have staff in all disciplines who have cancelled leave to come in to do extra clinics and extra operating lists," said Dr Jo Andrews, Chief of Clinical Operations at the Royal Sussex.

"That level of commitment means that we are able to run twice the number of trauma lists and to do double the number of trauma operations per day over the next three to four days.

"Instead of the usual eight to ten operations per day it will be between 20 and 25."