I wish to reply to the question in a letter subheaded “Why did it take 17 years?” by Bill Wood (The Argus, May 9).

He asked for an explanation as to why the previous government, during its 13 years in control, could not or would not do any work on the Royal Sussex County Hospital (RSCH).

It is my belief it was because of the near £13 billion it shovelled into its over-problematic, over-ambitious, state-of-the-art computerised patient record system which, on the advice of the National Audit Office, had to be abandoned.

You might agree that this wasted money could well have been spent on more nurses, doctors and improving conditions for patients as well as building another dozen or so hospitals the size of the RSCH instead of those billions of pounds going into the coffers of the large IT companies employed on that disastrous project.

So thank you Simon Kirby for your perseverance and constant cajoling of Chancellor George Osborne into releasing the money to get our long-overdue new hospital.

Councillor Geoff Wells, Conservative, Woodingdean ward, Brighton and Hove City Council