Two hospital operating theatres will be back in use on Monday following repairs to a leaking pipe.

The theatres at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton were closed over the Christmas and New Year period while work was carried out.

The water damaged the floors and walls of both theatres, which were refurbished a year ago.

Investigations are continuing into how the leak developed.

Hospital bosses were able to keep disruption to patients to a minimum by making alternative arrangements to use the Royal Sussex's other theatres.

The number of non-urgent operations is also generally kept to a minimum during the festive period.

Hospital bosses are waiting to hear whether an application for £13 million from the Government to refurbish three of its other main theatres and build a seventh has been accepted.

The theatres need a radical overhaul if they are to meet new health and safety standards.

Floors are in a poor condition, the back-up systems for lights have collapsed and the ventilation is outdated.

If the improvements are not carried out, the Royal College of Surgeons could class them as unfit for use.

The hospital has four other main operating theatres, two cardiac, two day surgery and one for obstetrics and gynaecology.

The seventh theatre will help the hospital cope with an expected increase in demand from a population that is living longer.

Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust bosses were keen to have the theatres back in service as quickly as possible to help it cut waiting times for patients needing non-urgent operations such as hip replacements or hernia operations.

Reducing waiting times and keeping the number of cancelled operations low are two of the targets the trust has to meet to perform well in this year's hospital star ratings.

It suffered problems with cancelled operations last year because of a high number of bed-blocking patients who had to wait in hospital until a nursing home place could be found for them.

This, coupled with staff shortages, put extra pressure on services and led to operations being cancelled at the last minute.

The expensive alternative was to send patients to a private hospital for the operation but this added to the growing financial problems faced by the trust.

The trust is expecting to be £5 million in the red at the end of this financial year.

The plan is being considered by the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority.