Health bosses said that they were well prepared for winter but were not complacent.
The people in charge of the NHS in Brighton and Hove said that they were meeting weekly to prepare in case of a cold winter this year.
Brighton and Hove City Council’s executive director for health and adult social care Rob Persey told a meeting today that the city was prepared.
He told the Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) governing body: “Our providers said they had never felt as well planned as they feel this year.
“We feel there is a very robust winter plan and I have no doubt it is going to be a difficult winter.
“It always is, but there is no complacency at all.”
The meeting was told that the biggest risks ahead of winter were increased visits to accident and emergency (A&E), more vulnerable people such as the elderly and homeless needing admission to hospital because of flu and lack of capacity in domestic care.
Flu vaccination for vulnerable groups including the elderly, children and NHS staff, is under way.
And the winter plan was intended to make sure that people who needed a hospital bed could be admitted quickly to avoid the risk of overcrowding in A&E and any delays to the ambulance service.
To help keep track of the number of available beds at Brighton and Sussex Universities Hospital Trust (BSUH), meetings will take place three times a day.
Th CCG governing body was also told that community health services would also be working at optimal level to improve the time that patients stayed and to increase the number of patients who could be sent home with care support.
Health chiefs also aim to reduce bed-blocking to no more than 3.5 per cent of acute hospital beds during the winter months.
The meeting at Ralli Hall, in Hove, was told that this year there had been more investment in the South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) to improve ambulance response times.
Also by November, people should be able to book a doctor’s appointment via NHS 111.
