A SHAKE up of mental health services for South Durham's elderly people could mean extra beds provided in a £6m development.

The health trust responsible for Durham and Darlington's psychiatric services is putting together plans to centralise facilities in the present maternity wing at Bishop Auckland General Hospital.

The scheme would raise the number of beds for elderly mentally ill (EMI) patients in the Wear Valley and Sedgefield by 12 to 36 and increase day hospital places from 30 to 50.

County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust would move its EMI facilities from the Homelands Hospital, near Crook, the Lady Eden Hospital, at Bishop Auckland, and the Josephine Rutter Centre, which is part of Sedgefield Community Hospital. The 26-year-old maternity unit is scheduled to close when Bishop Auckland's new £66m hospital opens in a few months' time.

The Josephine Rutter Centre has not been allocated space in the new Sedgefield development opening next year. The Lady Eden, which recently underwent a £388,000 facelift, would continue to be used for health care.

But sprawling Homelands would be left with only one ward operated by County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust and, although there are no plans to close it, inevitably there will be speculation about its future.

A project team has put together an outline business plan for the changes, and planning officials at Wear Valley District Council are being asked to approve extensions to the two-storey building in Westfield Road.

A County Durham Health Authority spokesman said: "Proposals are in the very early stages, but they represent a significant development. There is a need to extend the services for the elderly mentally ill, but there is a long way to go."

Valerie Bryden, chief officer for South Durham and Weardale Community Health Council, welcomed the plans.

She said: "We think that it would be a good thing for patients in the long run.

"We know that some people will be disappointed at the loss of the existing facilities, but it would mean adding extra beds, which we know we are going to need, which would be next to an acute hospital site."