Billions of pounds are being poured into the National Health Service every year but you would not know it by looking at the buildings.

Only one new hospital, Mill View, has been built in Brighton and Hove since the Second World War.

The city is still using Brighton General Hospital, built as a workhouse and looking like one in places, while areas of the Royal Sussex County Hospital are the best part of 200 years old.

It's scarcely surprising that a survey today shows almost a quarter of the buildings owned by the NHS in Surrey and Sussex do not meet health and safety guidelines.

Some of the old buildings are crumbling and plenty do not comply with fire safety regulations.

The national backlog of hospital repairs has reached £3.4 billion, an enormous figure.

There are few serious accidents in hospital, either locally or nationally, but crumbling buildings are depressing both for the patient and the staff.

You have only to compare a modern hospital such as Mill View with ancient buildings to spot the difference in atmosphere.

The sooner outdated hospital buildings can be demolished the better. Often the land they stand on is valuable and the proceeds from sales can be used to build new ones.