THE last patients have left the wards of the old Shotley Bridge Hospital to make way for the bulldozers.

Elderly patients have just moved into two new wards in the adjoining community hospital.

The completion of Wards Two and Four of the new unit, known as the Tower Block, marks the last phase in the £8m project to create a community hospital.

The new wards contain 45 beds spread over two floors. The regimented rows of beds separated only by curtains have gone and have been replaced with single rooms with en suite toilets and rooms for two or four patients.

There is also a day room, a therapy centre, a chaplaincy and dining room.

Next door to the patients' beds is a series of offices for the social services staff, nurses and doctors involved in their care. The nurses' station has been moved from its traditional spot at one end of the ward, to a more central position, making it easier for them to keep an eye on all patients.

Ruth Mather, a former nurse and now directorate manager of Shotley Bridge, confessed that the ethos is to get people in and out as quickly as possible, but for the right reasons.

"Sometimes, patients do need to be admitted," she said. "But a lot of the time, what elderly people really need is to be at home.

"The unit is all about building up their confidence and keep them independent. Then what we can do is set up a care package with people like social services to care for them in their own homes."

She said the layout of the building made it a pleasure to work in. "It is all too easy for planners to lose sight of the people on the ground who will use the building," she said.

"That hasn't happened here. The nurses have really taken ownership of the project and were very involved. The result is those little things that can make all the difference to a working environment."

The opening of the wards paves the way for the old building to be demolished. But health trust bosses have said it will be at least 18 months before the bulldozers move in.

North Durham Health Care Trust laid out controversial plans to scale down the old general hospital in Shotley Bridge in 1998. Full health services, including an accident and emergency unit, are now provided at the University Hospital of North Durham.

The replacement community hospital still offers day surgery, rehabilitation for elderly patients, treatment of minor injuries and an out-of-hours GP.