Health bosses will meet tomorrow to decide if they can afford to run a new hospital in Mid Sussex.

Crawley Primary Care Trust (PCT) will discuss the implications of building the hospital at nearby Pease Pottage.

Campaigners fought for several years to have a new hospital to replace the existing, cramped Crawley Hospital in the town centre to cope with an ever-increasing population.

The hospital would be the main one for the north Sussex and south-east Surrey area.

But health organisations and residents in Surrey say East Surrey Hospital in Redhill should be the main hospital for the region.

A two-year review into the future of hospital services in the region came down in favour of the Crawley option but the decision has sparked concerns from some health organisations that the cost would be too high.

Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority will be responsible for providing the money to build the hospital but local PCTs will be the ones who have to provide the millions of pounds every year to keep it going.

Crawley PCT will decide tomorrow whether it believes it would be able to support the Pease Pottage hospital on a day-to-day basis.

Its recommendation, along with those from Horsham and Chanctonbury PCT and others in Surrey, will be referred to the health authority, which will make a final decision at its meeting on January 29.

Tomorrow's board meeting will be at Broadfield Stadium from 2pm to 5pm.