ONE of the oldest hospital buildings in the country has been closed as part of a major £485 million redevelopment.

Three wards based in the Jubilee Building at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton have been transferred to a £8.5m temporary site.

The Jubilee building opened in 1887 and has been in constant use as a ward block ever since.

It is being pulled down, along with the neighbouring Barry building as part of an overall transformation of the Royal Sussex, which is expected to be complete by 2023.

Conditions in the Jubilee building are cramped, making it difficult to deliver care to patients and store vital equipment.

The temporary three storey building, called the Courtyard Extension, is based in the hospital grounds and now home to patients being treated by clinical infection and cancer services.

It is built to meet modern standards and has space for 22 beds, 18 of which are single en-suite rooms comparted to the eight single rooms currently at the Jubilee.

Patients and staff moved into the new building yesterday.

Redevelopment project director Duane Passman said: “This move allows us to massively improve the care environment for the patients and staff of three wards and make space for the redevelopment’s stage 1 building in a single move.

“It is that rarest of things, a situation where everyone genuinely wins.

“We improve the environment for some of our most vulnerable patients and in so doing make it possible to create an even better environment for them and hundreds more patients in the completed redevelopment.”

Lead nurse for cancer services, Leigh Harvey, said: “The environment is so much better in the Courtyard.

“Just the sheer amount of space we have for each patient compared to the Jubilee Building is wonderful.”

Ward manager Zingy Thetho said staff were looking forward to the move.

She said: “It is very exciting and will make such a difference for everyone. The patients will really benefit.”

The wards will remain in the Courtyard for between four and seven years until the new permanent buildings are ready.

The Jubilee Building is the most complex structure that has to be removed to allow Stage 1 of the redevelopment to go ahead.

Work to decommission it will begin as soon as the wards are moved and work to start pulling it down will start early next year.