A MATERNITY hospital where thousands of south Durham babies were born started a £7m transformation yesterday into a unit which will look after people at the opposite end of the age scale.

Bishop Auckland MP Derek Foster took a hammer to walls in the 27-year-old former baby block in Westfield Road to begin its conversion into a mental health facility for older residents.

Contractors Shepherd Construction built both the maternity block and the town's £67m General Hospital. The company expects the latest unit to be operational in early 2004.

Its name, Auckland Park Hospital, was chosen by Corinne Hancock, a community support worker based at the Lady Eden unit, in Cockton Hill Road.

The scheme is managed by County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust, which looks after people with mental health problems and learning disabilities.

It will bring together under one roof the services presently based at Lady Eden, Homelands, in Crook, and Sedgefield Community Hospital.

There will be 36 assessment and treatment beds, 16-interim care beds, 30-day hospital places as well as facilities for occupational therapy, physiotherapy, psychology, community and social services and outpatients.

Separate wards will look after people with dementia and other associated illnesses and those suffering from mental illnesses such as depression.

Other facilities include a sensory care room, reminiscence room, an aids for daily living kitchen and treatment rooms.

Mr Foster said: "Our elderly people and our mentally ill people must have the best. This will be one of the finest facilities in the country."

Trust chairman Jo Turnbull said the new unit would exceed Government standards, saying: "The mental health needs of older people are often very diverse, but the needs of individuals are usually quite specific and we want to make sure we are caring for our senior citizens and their families in the best possible environment.