RESIDENTS are being urged to help decide the fate of a community hospital that faces closure in a health shake-up later this year.

The Homelands Community Hospital, in Crook, is expected to be shut as part of a modernisation of care services for the elderly and infirm in south Durham.

Services at the hospital have already been reduced with elderly mentally ill patients relocated to a new unit at Bishop Auckland at the beginning of the year.

The move - by Durham Dales Primary Care Trust - is part of a review of services provided at the hospital used mainly for older people recuperating after treatment or waiting for a care home place.

It also provides respite care for a small number of local residents.

Next week sees the start of a three-month period of consultation offering local people a chance to comment on the proposals and to find out more.

Closure of the building is included in three of the four options still being considered by health chiefs.

Care at the hospital could be replaced by a similar number of beds at a new or several locations, extra domiciliary care, or a mixture of beds in care homes and community hospitals in Stanhope and Barnard Castle with extra funding to support people in their own homes.

The fourth option is to do nothing about the building, which even with over £1m in repairs would still not meet modern standards.

Work is already under way to redevelop the Richardson Hospital, in Barnard Castle, and with Durham Social Services to develop more intense home help.

Andrew Kenworthy, chief executive of Durham Dales PCT said: "We want local people to help us determine the future shape of health care in the area so that we can provide services that will be of most benefit and value to the community."

Public meetings, starting at 7pm, will be held at Crook Health Centre, Tuesday, June 8; Willington Health Centre, Tuesday, June 16, Homelands Community Hospital, Tuesday, June 29; and the Four Clocks Centre, Bishop Auckland, Tuesday, July 6.