OPERATING theatres and the surgical ward at a hospital run by monks are to close as the religious order concentrates on services for people with special needs.

The St John of God hospital at Scorton, near Richmond, will cease providing acute services some time after August 1.

Instead, the 120-year-old centre will invest an estimated £500,000 to expand its provision for special needs patients, including elderly sufferers of Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.

Closure of acute services means staff redundancies from the St Bede's surgical ward and operating theatres. A spokesman for the hospital said it would be two to three weeks before the number of job losses was known, and she could not say how many people were employed on the acute side.

Expansion of special needs care, which would provide an additional 40 beds and day care facilities, would create new jobs for staff with expertise in that field.

The spokeswoman said the Hospitaller Order of St John of God, which has provided services in England since 1539, was returning to its roots with the changes.

"The order has recognised over a period of time that there is a great need in the area for specialist services for people with learning difficulties and special needs such as Alzherimer's sufferers," she said. "That is what the order really is about."

The Very Rev Bro John Martin, provincial of the order of St John in England, said: "In view of the surgical facilities now available to people in this region, our decision reflects the order's mission to provide care where it is most needed."

Figures from the Alzheimer's society showed there were more than 500 people with the disease in Richmondshire, with only 70 long-stay places available in the private sector, including 31 already at Scorton hospital.

It is hoped internal alterations to the building can begin in the autumn but the spokesman did not know when they would be complete.

l The Hospitaller Order of St John of God was founded in 1539 and has grown to a worldwide brotherhood of more than 1,400 monks and 200 healthcare units, from hospitals to pastoral centres, in 48 countries on all five continents.