The heating and hot water failed in a state-of-the-art hospital building, forcing some procedures to be postponed.

Plumbing issues at the £485 million Louisa Martindale Building in the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton meant some "planned care" had to be pushed back.

The trust which runs the hospital apologised and said that more repairs would be carried out over the bank holiday weekend.

Heating and hot water first failed at the hospital on Monday and University Hospitals Sussex declared a "business continuity incident" shortly after.

Patients said they were left “sweltering” due to the issues.

A spokeswoman apologised to patients and staff yesterday saying: "Business continuity at Royal Sussex County Hospital has now been stepped down.

"We experienced issues with heating and hot water but these issues have now been fixed and elective services will return to normal from tomorrow.

“Some planned care needed to be postponed whilst repairs were being made and we sincerely apologise to anyone who has been affected by this.

“We would like to thank all our staff for taking extra measures to provide the best care for our patients whilst the repairs were being made.

“Additional repair work will be carried out at the Thomas Kemp Tower over the bank holiday but we are putting plans in place to ensure there is no disruption to patients.”