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An NHS trust has closed a hospital mental health ward after a second patient was found hanged in less than two months.

A 40-year-old man was discovered hanged in his room by staff at the Woodlands unit based at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, East Sussex, on October 19.

He was resuscitated on the ward and taken to the hospital's intensive care unit but died three days later.

The incident follows the death of Sussex Police officer Richard Bexhell who was found hanged and later died in the hospital's intensive care unit on August 30.

Sergeant Bexhell, 49, had been detained in the Woodlands unit of the hospital the day before.

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust stressed the deaths were unrelated, but said it was shutting the unit while an investigation was carried out.

A Trust spokesman said: "As a result of this second very serious incident Sussex Partnership has taken the immediate steps of closing the ward to enable a thorough investigation to be carried out and to take any subsequent actions, and reviewing guidelines on safety and security in light of both recent incidents."

He added: "The Trust has already implemented some early recommendations from the ongoing investigation into Mr Bexhell's death. These include revised policy on observations for people who are assessed as being at high risk of harming themselves."

The current 25 inpatients at Woodlands were being transferred to other facilities run by the Trust.

A Sussex Police spokeswoman said: "Sussex Police are investigating the death of a 40-year-old Hastings man on behalf of the coroner. We are being assisted in our investigation by the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust."