A government U-turn means all nurses and other health service workers across Sussex will get an extra £600 next year to cover the county's high living costs.

The announcement, by Health Secretary Alan Milburn, means staff in the East Sussex, Brighton and Hove health authority area will get the bonus already being paid out to their colleagues in West Sussex.

The news follows a year-long campaign for NHS staff in the Brighton and Hove area to be treated in the same way as those in West Sussex.

Qualified nurses, midwives, health visitors, therapists and radiographers working in West Sussex started receiving the cost of living payments in April this year.

A complicated calculation method for the bonus meant West Sussex was deemed an expensive area to live while Brighton and Hove lost out, despite having some of the highest house prices in the South East.

Hospitals in Brighton have been losing staff for months as workers transferred to hospitals in Worthing, Haywards Heath and Chichester to qualify for the bonus.

Brighton Health Care NHS Trust has also had problems recruiting.

The trust, along with South Downs Health NHS Trust, Brighton and Hove Primary Care Group and the city's three MPs have been lobbying the Department of Health for a year to get the scheme extended.

A spokesman for the Royal College of Nursing in Brighton said: "We are absolutely delighted. It has caused a lot of problems, with many nurses leaving the area and moving to West Sussex instead.

"The idea of living in an expensive place like Brighton and Hove and not being eligible for the bonus was ridiculous.

"At least things are a lot fairer now and hopefully it will encourage more nurses to stay here."

Brighton Health Care chief executive Stuart Welling thanked the people who helped with the drive to get the scheme extended.

He said: "This is tremendous news and a great Christmas present for all our staff."

Hove MP Ivor Caplin, Brighton Kemp Town MP Des Turner and Brighton Pavilion MP David Lepper also welcomed the move.

At the same time, Mr Milburn announced a further 9.9 per cent funding boost for the health service in East Sussex.

The inflation-busting hike will provide the health authority with an extra £59.9 million to spend next year, taking the total to £666.7 million.

After inflation, the increase is still worth an extra £43.6 million per year, an increase in real terms of 7.2 per cent.

It has been partly-funded by the extra £1 billion Chancellor Gordon Brown announced for health in last week's pre-Budget report.

West Sussex has a 9.6 per cent or £53.8 million increase, taking the total to £618.8 million. The 'real terms' increase is 6.9 per cent, or £38.8 million.

Mr Milburn also announced that, from July next year, any patient who has been waiting for more than six months for heart surgery will be offered treatment at a NHS hospital in another area, the private sector or even abroad.