A Victorian hospital is to be shut down.

All Saints Hospital in Eastbourne has 127 beds which are used for long-term rehabilitation services for the elderly.

It also serves as a day hospital for short-term patients but health bosses insist the closure would not mean a cut in services.

They say the listed building will be replaced with a modern alternative.

They say it is outdated and does not conform to modern standards.

Eastbourne Hospitals NHS Trust has put forward plans to close All Saints by early 2003.

The trust is now working with social services to find a way of offering the services in a different location.

A project board, headed by Dr Bryan Heap, medical director of the trust, has been set up to co-ordinate the plans.

Dr Heap said: "The staff at the hospital enjoy a very good and richly-deserved reputation but everybody agrees that in this day and age the location and building leave a great deal to be desired."

Trust chief executive Alan Randall said: "We think we can make these services more accessible to people in the area."

The former convent building will be put up for sale.