IF THE idea of moving house makes you break into a cold sweat, stop reading now. Imagine packing up all the contents of a three-bedroom family house, all the furniture, carpets, curtains and all the private possessions of mum, dad and the children.

Now multiply that pile of crates and cardboard boxes into a veritable Himalayan mountain range and you get some idea of what is currently going on at Durham's new University Hospital.

The only consolation is that the big move is the equivalent of shifting all your worldly goods from number seven Acacia Avenue next door to number nine. In terms of distance, it's a doddle.

In terms of surroundings, moving from the old Dryburn Hospital to the gleaming, all-new University Hospital of North Durham is like checking out of an ageing, seen-better-days motel and checking in to a new Holiday Inn.

The compact, £97m University Hospital has been deliberately designed to make the most of a site alongside the existing Dryburn Hospital, so most of the transfers of bulky equipment - and, most importantly, people - have been like moving next door.

That has allowed often frail patients to be moved in relative comfort along a temporary canvas corridor, which has been erected to link the two sites.

More than 400 in-patients are being transferred from old wards in the existing Dryburn Hospital along this sinuous tent corridor to the new hospital wards.

The patients are the most important factor in a huge, military-style operation which has been going on for weeks. Those who are too ill to walk are being transferred in wheelchairs, the very ill gingerly moved on trolleys, still hooked up to life-sustaining gases and fluids. While no mishaps are expected, the long corridor is equipped with a number of resuscitation points to provide immediate assistance to any patient who is taken ill.

What has helped the move is that much of the heavy medical and diagnostic equipment is brand new and is already installed in the new hospital.

Large pieces of equipment, such as the hospital's new Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanner, other X-ray equipment and some operating theatre equipment, is ready and waiting at the new site. But most of the rest of the equipment has had to be crated up in Dryburn and carted to the hospital's new home, including most of the hospital beds.

Isobel Kellie, one of a small army of managers who have supervised the switch, says the fact that things are going smoothly so far probably reflects the amount of advanced planning.

The North Durham Health Care NHS Trust, which manages the site, has had a team working on the commissioning of the new hospital for at least two years.

While careful planning pays dividends, the hospital bosses realised that it would probably make sense to call in the professionals.

"We brought in a very professional removal company who are well practised in moving large organisations from A to B," says Ms Kellie, director of performance management at the trust.

Britannia Devereux, a Billingham removals firm, which has been moving, storing and shipping for more than 50 years, is handling the big switch.

Mike Devereux, one of three brothers who are partners in the company, said the key to a smooth operation was 'planning, planning and more planning,' not to mention around 7,000 large plastic crates.

A team of up to 30 staff has been beavering away at the twin hospital site for the past fortnight, with some of them working through the night to ensure the smooth transfer of the Dryburn accident and emergency department to its new home.

Apart from manpower, a fleet of specialist vehicles has been plying back and forwards between the two hospitals.

Phase one of the development involves the transfer of accident and emergency, 14 medical and surgical wards, operating theatres and intensive care.

Phase two of the development begins in August when outpatient services are transferred to the new site. Plastic crates were delivered to departments weeks ago and staff have been gradually packing everything, from medical equipment to books, papers and potted plants.

"In preparation for the move, we haven't been taking in any elective surgical admissions," says Ms Kellie.

Some of the equipment, which has served the people of North Durham for many years, will be going to a new home. As part of long-established practice in the NHS, items of hospital equipment which are being replaced but are still serviceable, are sent to a central point where they can be recycled for use in a developing world hospital.

An essential part of the move has been to ensure that nurses, doctors and all the other support workers know their way around the new site.

"We have done a lot of familiarisation work with staff which hopefully will have helped. We had a lead nurse in each department who has been the key person in that area.

"Staff need to know not only about their own department but also where to assemble in the event of a fire."

While the move has been a strain for everyone involved, Ms Kellie says the predominant feeling is of excitement.

"Everybody is so pleased that the move is actually happening. The facilities at the new hospital are so much better than at Dryburn. It is long overdue."

l The hospital celebrated the birth of its first baby last Saturday. Diane Robson gave birth to a daughter shortly after 7am.