Chiefs at East Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the hospital together with the Conquest in Hastings, said they were struggling to fill suitable posts.

The news also comes amid a recent increase in the number of emergency admissions in the last six weeks coupled with patients suffering from winter bugs like gastro-enteritis.

Dr David Scott, the trust's medical director, said the shortage was due to a new government policy called Modernising Medical Careers, which means new doctors have to undergo an extra year of training before becoming fully qualified.

He said, "Although there are sufficient numbers of doctors available there are not enough of a certain calibre who can fill the vacant posts.

"Back in the summer it was thought there would be more doctors than posts available, so there was huge concern nationally about medical unemployment.

"The government promised to secure employment for junior doctors but the reality is that we have found it very difficult to recruit.

"We believe this is because of a shortage of doctors coming over from places like the Indian Sub-Continent.

"Huge numbers who we used to rely on have not been coming and a lot of medical graduates have left the UK to work abroad in New Zealand, the USA and Australia.

"The government has introduced an additional year of training doctors have to go through. As a result we are seeing a delay of these new doctors coming into the system.

"The junior doctors now require more close supervision than before so the consultant's time is being spent supervising them rather than operating at arm's length."

Dr Scott said the surgery departments were finding it 'increasingly difficult' to fill suitable posts and at the same time spending more money recruiting via agencies.