A DALES community could have a new £1m hospital before the end of this year.

Planning officials are expected to give approval this week to a 20-bed development at Horn Hall, Stanhope, which currently offers long-term and respite care for elderly and convalescing patients from Weardale.

The single-storey, L-shaped unit will have 20 beds including six set aside for palliative care.

In addition, the Dales Primary Care Group has given £32,000 to fund a dedicated physiotherapy service and additional occupational therapy.

There will also be treatment rooms, a day room, dining facilities, and kitchen and staff accommodation.

South Durham Health Care NHS Trust said last night that work could start as soon as April and the building should be finished in December.

The hospital replaces a crumbling Victorian building which would have cost £750,000 to repair.

Until the trust approved the development last June, there were fears that the hospital would close, depriving the dale of jobs as well as vital health services.

Before then a working group including representatives from Horn Hall, Weardale GPs, the Primary Care Group, patients and South Durham and Weardale Community Health Council, had spent a year working with the trust and the County Durham Health Authority on plans for the hospital's future.

Dales Primary Care Group chairman Dr Stewart Findlay said: "This is something that people in Weardale have been hoping for for a number of years. The local GPs have worked very hard to bring this to fruition and the health authority is putting in £1m."

The building will be built in the grounds of the present hospital.

No decision has been made on the future of the old building