The cost of repairs following a fifth serious bout of flooding in seven years at a hospital will be £350,000.

Staff at Worthing Hospital had to work flat out to keep the hospital going when heavy rain caused problems in June.

A report to the Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Trust board said damage included the lifts, mortuary, postgraduate medical centre and basement areas of the hospital.

It said the hospital was at risk of flooding because it was in a vulnerable position with the underground Teville stream, which runs across the town.

The hospital’s basement is said to be geographically at the lowest point in Worthing.

Worthing Borough Council is working with local agencies, including the Environment Agency, to complete a surface water management plan for the town.

It has agreed to include the hospital as a specific high risk location in the plans.

All the fire doors in the hospital basement have been water damaged and need to be replaced.

However, work has been undertaken to ensure that in the event of a fire alarm going off, the doors will still automatically close.

Damage The impact of the flood also means the doctor’s catering facility in the post-graduate centre has closed and library staff will have to work elsewhere for at least six months while refurbishment work is finished.

The report said: “The Worthing Hospital basement is on low level ground and located in a high risk flood area above the Teville stream.

“Indications are that the area will continue to be at risk of flooding. Previously the risk was placed as a one in 25-year event.

“However experience shows that significant flooding has occurred five times over the past seven years.”

The report said that at the height of the incident the hospital had four fire appliances and six water tankers from Southern Water.

Tankers were used to transport the pumped water from the hospital to Southern Water’s depot in Lancing as the drains around the hospital site and surrounding areas had blocked and were overflowing.

The trust is now reviewing the benefit of buying a pumped drainage system to avoid delays until Southern Water or the fire service can reach the hospital with their equipment when there is another flood.

Extra aluminium flood barriers will also be needed for the mortuary, plant rooms, IT server rooms and lift wells.

The insurance claim will be around £350,000 with an excess liability of £40,000.