WORK on the redevelopment of the Royal Sussex County Hospital continues apace in Brighton.

But take a look at the building just over 40 years ago in 1975.

The original Barry Building was already spawning new add-ons as the population of the area expanded.

The RSCH had seen its share of ups and downs.

On New Year's Day 1872, a fire in the Adelaide Wing almost spelt the end of the hospital.

The blaze caused an explosion that "shook the whole building" according to one matron.

Fire services were not as organised in those days and, during the first hour, the situation looked so desperate that a steam fire engine was summoned by telegraph from London. It was, however, turned back once better news was received.

The fight for a new expanded hospital has rumbled on for most of the post-war era.

In later years, as this hospital has grown, others have wound down.

The emphasis on emergency care has shifted from the Brighton General Hospital over the past ten years, though it is still next-door to the ambulance station in Elm Grove.

The Bevendean Hospital, pictured here in 1988, closed a year later through lack of funding.

It was an isolation hospital for conditions such as diphtheria and tuberculosis, though had a reputation for less than ideal mortality rates in the old days.

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