There would seem to be exciting times ahead for the Universities of Sussex and Brighton as they collaborate in a new school of studies, a medical school.

There are feverish signs of building on both campuses and it is advisable to pick your way with great care, especially if you go on to the campus at Sussex in a car at night.

I was up there last week for a dinner of the Chancellor's Society, which is an excellent revamp of the old Town and Gown club which, for a number of years, was a meeting place for members of the University and the movers and shakers of the local community in Brighton and Hove and the surrounding area.

Over the years it began to get a little tired and the format a bit jaded and the numbers dropped off until Lord Attenborough became chancellor of the university and, along with some of the university officers, gave it the kiss of life and at the same time raised some money for the Handicapped Scholarship Fund.

He got some of his friends to come and speak at the dinners and now it has become the Chancellor's Society, raising the thick end of £250,000 for the fund.

As so often happens on these occasions, they develop a momentum of their own and once again the dinners are packed to the doors. This one was no exception. The speaker was the newly appointed dean of the fledgling medical school, Professor Jonathan Cohen, and he got the audience well and truly hooked on the vision of what the new school could bring to the universities and to the city.

There were a number of doctors in the audience, some of whom may well be involved with the school as it is going to be based in the community for parts of the course. The buildings are going up apace and will be state of the art, at least for a short time until new skills and techniques catch up and overtake the cohorts of the future.

This part of the world has laughingly been called God's Waiting Room or the Costa Geriatrica so it may well be that it will become a frontrunner in studying the ills of the elderly.

That would make a nice change from being the bottom of the pile when it comes to care and attention for those who are no longer in a condition to fight for themselves.

A recent report compiled by the Liberal Democrat spokesman in the House of Commons showed thousands of elderly people had been forced to sell their homes to pay for long-term care which, it was claimed, should have been given free by the NHS.

A test case in 1999 stated the health authorities were liable for the personal and the nursing costs for those who were ill but many health authorities were still means testing elderly folk who had Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or dementia when they should be entitled to free care.

If you are in need of care for more than 12 weeks the capital value of your house is now taken into account. Since most of the ills of old age last for ever once they have set in there won't be many who get help when they most need it.

What many people tend to forget is that the sons and daughters of the elderly are themselves no longer in the first flush of youth and may not be able to provide full time care for their parents.

We hear the usual "jam tomorrow" promises for a projected investment of £900 million being poured into long term care between 2000 and 2004.

Let us hope that some of the young doctors who will qualify in the new medical school will decide that care for the elderly should have a prominent place in their scheme of things.