Several departments of a hospital had to be evacuated after a water main burst.

A pipe in the basement of the University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City, burst on Thursday afternoon when a contractor overbalanced and fell on it during repair work.

Several inches of water poured into the basement and staff from several departments, including the hospital's pharmacy and cleaning teams, were evacuated.

Patients were unaffected by the leak, although the domestic hot water supply was interrupted during the incident.

Pharmacy staff were able to return to work within 45 minutes and the water supply was restored within three hours.

A spokesman for the hospitals trust said: "We had the water back on within a couple of hours and there was no impact on patient care."