A NORTH-EAST mental health unit is to close temporarily.

Parkside in-patient unit at the Parkside Community Mental Health Resource Centre, in Middlesbrough, will close at the end of this month.

The eight beds are being transferred to the town's St Luke's Hospital so work can begin on a rehabilitation and recovery unit for adults with mental problems, which is expected to open next year.

A spokeswoman for Tees and North East Yorkshire NHS Trust said the centre is being built after a ten-month consultation period.

She said: "As more community services have developed we have less needs for in-patient beds.

"Other community services are based in the building which will continue to run."

The new unit will be for mental health patients who have been in hospital for a long stay and need help getting back to daily living.

It is part of the £8.4m plans to modernise the trust's mental health services