A VICTORIAN mental hospital will be demolished as part of a multi-million modernisation plan.

Health Secretary John Reid has approved Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust's plans for a £73m buildings overhaul.

This will see the replacement of St Luke's Hospital, Middlesbrough, with a number of specialist units.

Trust chief executive Moira Britton said: "St Luke's Hospital has served the people of Teesside well for the past 106 years.

"Over the years, it has been repeatedly adapted to meet the changing needs of mental health and learning disability services, but it has reached the end of its useful life.

"Its structure and layout means it can no longer be adapted to meet national guidelines for NHS buildings and 21st Century mental health services.

"We are delighted to get ministerial approval for our plans that will see the people of Teesside benefit from the most modern specialist units, supported by a comprehensive range of community services. This is excellent news for the people we support, their carers, and our staff."

Now the trust will develop a more detailed plan to attract a private partner to carry out the building work, which it is hoped will be complete in 2009.

* A £50m scheme has also been announced to replace in-patient facilities and an older persons' day hospital at Cherry Knowle Hospital, in Ryehope, Sunderland.