POLICE have expressed concerns over controversial plans to close a mental health unit in the region and transfer services 20 miles away.

Officers from Durham City are concerned about transferring vulnerable patients to Darlington if the city's psychiatric intensive care unit at the County Hospital closes.

A consultation by County Durham and Darlington Priority Services NHS Trust is under way to determine whether the unit, which includes a secure facility, should be moved for an interim period of two years.

The proposal is to close the five-bed Tony White unit in Durham and transfer it to an 11-bed facility at the £20m West Park hospital, in Darlington, before it is relocated again to a new hospital in North Durham in 2007.

At a public meeting in Durham yesterday Sergeant Paul Hadden told The Northern Echo: "We have patients within the policing area who are brought to the station, which for a mental health patient is not the best environment. If the patient can't be transferred quickly, to a ward such as the Tony White unit, then what provisions are being made?

"Some patients require constant supervision. Would we have to look after the patient until Darlington police arrive or transfer patients to Darlington ourselves and take officers off their beat?"

NHS officials said consultations with Durham Police were taking place to address their concerns.

Staff said they could not understand why the unit should be moved when a hospital in Durham would open in two years.

Harry Cronin, director of mental health, said: "An opportunity has arisen. We are being told the county hospital is not appropriate. We are trying to create better provision for people who need different types of care."

He said the Mental Health Act Commission had spoken of the inappropriate environment including cramped conditions, lack of access to secure outdoor facilities and no gender specific areas

A woman, who did not want to be named, said her brother was regularly admitted to the unit.

She said: "It is going to be all that more traumatic for him if he is going to have to travel to Darlington."

The next meeting will be on September 24 at the YMCA, in Consett, at 10am.